Underestimation
by Lady Alseroen
Summary: Lex knew that she wasn't fully human in fact she was only 47% human, 50% of her genetic code was debatable and the other 3% well that was all animal. Really she knew that she should have taken the chopper and flown as far away from the frozen wasteland that just so happened to be one of her most favorite places on the planet. Sorry for long wait in last college year updates sparse.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

She looked around at the extremely small white room that she was in, it didn't have any windows in it nor did it have a bed or even a chair, all she had was the white hospital gown, a laptop and the floor. She also knew that she wasn't entirely human, the scientists always enjoyed taunting her with that fact. They had changed her, taken away an extra 3% of her human DNA and substituted it with animal DNA, they had added 1.5% T-Rex DNA and 1.5% Bengal tiger DNA; clearly they wanted a supreme apex predator and they got one.

She had been in the Cyrel Institute since infancy, here she had been taught a lot, and some of what she was taught would make several people blanch at the thought of being taught what she had at such a young age. She had learned to fight and hunt, learned to use her abilities to her gain in any situation, her IQ had had to be heightened for what the scientists had wanted to teach her and so they had done it.

From the moment that she had come into the scientists 'care' she had learned to not only block out pain but to not feel it at all, pain had been with her throughout all of her life, she could not even think of a day that she had gone without some level of pain being inflicted on her by the scientists.

Oh, how she hated the smug looking men, wearing their white coats proudly whilst they operated on her and tested her to see if she had learned what they had taught her, they had reluctantly given her a laptop but that was only after she had pointed out that she couldn't study if she didn't have something that allowed her to study, and since they wouldn't let her learn from books (too dangerous they had said whilst she had asked in her mind 'dangerous for whom?') they gave her a laptop, they kept giving her parts to make sure that it stayed a top of the line one as well.

What they hadn't known was that she wrote stories, poems and theories, which a publisher published for her, she also took several of the primary books and turned them into something that the kids would love and they had been a hit as several schools in America, the UK and South-Africa used them to teach, and later she had moved onto secondary books which were also a hit. All the money she got from that allowed her to amass a small fortune that she didn't use.

As she grew she kept writing but expanded on the type of public that she wrote for, she kept writing for the children when she was a teen but she expanded to write for other teens as well, all her books were loved by one type of person or another. As a result of being locked up in the Cyrel Institute was that she couldn't sign any books, which meant that she was the number one most mysterious author in the world.

When she reached 18 years of age, she escaped from the Cyrel Institute and made a life for herself, she continued writing when she wasn't out in the wild but even then she wrote using her experience's as inspiration.

Her name is Alexandria Ehiztari Woods and she is our guide through the trials that she will face.

**UUUU**

**Translation:**

Ehiztari = Hunter (Basque)


	2. Chapter I

**Chapter I**

As Lex pulled the ice pick out of the glacier that she was scaling her phone rang, making her freeze and hope to God and any other deity that she knew of that it wasn't them, as she amswered her phone using the bletooth head set.

"Who is this?" Lex asked cautiously.

"Miss Woods." A male voice said. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance. My name is Maxwell Stafford." Here Max paused. "I represent Weyland Industries."

She almost sighed in relief. "Let me guess; your suing us again?" she asked a bit irritated, the only way that you could tell how she felt was that she swung the ice axe a bit harder than she needed too.

"You misunderstand... I speak for Mr. Weyland himself." Stafford replied, Lex was surprised at that.

"What does one of the biggest polluters want with us?" She questioned as she swung the opposite ice axe.

"Mr. Weyland's interest is in you personally. He's offering to fund the foundation with which you are associated for a full year… if you'll meet with him." Stafford replied.

Lex paused in the rhythmic swinging of her ice axes for a minute, hesitating, she felt that this was like meeting with the Devil.

"When?" She finally asked.

"Tomorrow." Stafford stated.

At hearing that her foot almost slipped on the ice. "I presume you know how bad we need the money…" she began "but tomorrow's going to be a bit of a problem." Lex continued then finished with. "It will take me a week to get back to the Civilized World."

"I told Mr. Weyland that." Stafford stated dryly.

"And what did he say?" Lex asked curiously as she pulled herself over the ridge, but the reply didn't come from her ear piece like she had expected instead it came from in front of her, making her look up.

"He said he didn't have a week." Stafford replied as he ended the call and put his phone away.

Lex sighed and rolled her eyes. "Fine, I'll come but give me a minute." She said.

Max smiled a bit when she said that, Lex hauled herself up and onto the flat ground, she stayed still for a second to get used to having her feet fully on the ground instead of the tips of her toes, then she picked up her gear and packed it all away into her back pack, then she stood and made her way to the chopper that Stafford was in front of.

Lex fell asleep on the way to the ship with the 'Scientific American' magazine open on her chest, it was open on the page with the title 'Charles Bishop Weyland, Pioneer of Modern Robotics'

Across from her was a Chemical engineer by the name of Graham Miller, he was attempting to take pictures of himself on the chopper but he was failing spectacularly, on the first try he nearly blinded himself and on the second try he woke Lex up accidentally when the chopper shook due to turbulence .

"Sorry." Miller apologised, Lex nods to show that she accepts the apology. "But since your awake, would you mind?" he continued holding the camera out for Lex to take. She took the offered camera and took a picture.

"I'm documenting the trip for my boys so they know that their father wasn't always boring." Miller then said by way of explanation he then shows Lex a picture of him and two boys. "That's Jacob and that's Scotty." He said pointing at each in turn when he said their name.

"They're cute." Lex said. "Is that your wife?" she asked gesturing to the woman in the picture.

"Ex-wife." Miller stated with a bit of sadness. "Graham Miller, chemical engineer." He introduced himself and extended his hand.

"Alexandria Woods, Environmental Technician and Guide. But call me Lex." Lex introduced herself in kind taking the man's hand and shaking it.

"Do you work for Weyland?" Miller asked.

"No." Lex said. "I split my time between working for a small environmental group and taking scientists on expeditions on the ice. One pays for the other and neither pays very well." She explained.

"The ice?" Miller asked curiously.

"Antarctica." Lex said with a small smile.

"Lex!" the co-pilot called. "You and your friend buckle up. We're going to hit some turbulence"

"Friend of yours?" Miller asked.

_Is he always asking questions?_ Lex thought with an imaginary raised eyebrow. "Of my dad's. He trained most of the pilots down here. During the summer, my sister and I would tag along." She said, it was exhausting to keep up the illusion that she had hidden her true self behind.

"Does she work with you?" Miller asked.

"No. She hates the cold, moved to Florida. If you see her skiing, she's being pulled by a boat." Lex said with fond amusement, but there was also a hint of sadness as her sister wasn't her full sister but her half-sister.

The Co-pilot turns and shouts. "JUST PASSED THE PSR!"

"Damn!" Miller cursed."I wanted a picture."

"Of what?" Lex asked thankful that the questions towards her had ended.

"The PSR. They should call it out _before_ you pass it." Miller said in exasperation.

Lex laughed a bit then she explained when she saw the look on Millers face. "The PSR is the point of safe return. It means that we've used more than half our fuel so we can't turn back."

"But we could still land?" Miller asked then continued. "I mean if something went wrong?"

Before Lex could say anything the chopper was shaken by severe turbulence. "We could ditch..." Miller looked relieved at hearing that. "But the temperature of the water would kill us in three minutes." She continues.

Miller paled as the chopper continued to shake, then he looked out of the window. "Antarctica." He muttered.

Two hours later they were on-board the Piper Maru in the cargo bay of the large Ice breaker,Lex looked around and took note of the separation via their areas of expertise, she could see three teams: one was the scientists (Lex, Sebastian, Thomas and Miller) another was the muscle (Stafford, Weyland, Adele, Verheiden, Connors and Klaus) and lastly there was the drillers (Quinn, Sven, Boris and Mikkel).

Miller, Lex observed, was bouncing around excitedly doing his best to impersonate a pinball, he soon jumps into the cab of one of Quinn's large drilling machines and starts to press any button that he can.

"Having fun?" Verheiden asked with an eyebrow raised unimpressed.

"First real adventure. Can't wait to tell my kids about this." Miller replies.

"This might be fun for you 'dad' but for the rest of us, it's a job. Get off the equipment and go back to the suburbs before you walk us all of a cliff." Verheiden said scathingly, but Miller doesn't move as he sees that Lex is approaching but he moves when Verheiden says. "Get off or you'll be wearing your ass for a hat."

"Nice team spirit." Lex said sarcastically.

Verheiden looks at his men, silently asking them if Lex was for real, before he turned to Max and said. "Keep the beakers away from the gear."

"What's a beaker?" Miller asked looking at Lex, who sighed.

"It's what they call scientists out here. You know... beaker? Like in the Muppet Show." Lex explained.

"Beaker..." Miller mussed before he said "I kinda like that."

At that moment Max looked around the room to check that everyone was there.

"Welcome aboard everybody! Please. Your probably wondering why this elite team of experts was assembled here? Your host will give you the answer now." Stafford said before turning to his boss. "Mr. Weyland."

Mr. Weyland emerges from the shadows; he nods to Max who starts the projection after everyone is handed a tablet pc, the projection illuminates a section of the metal wall behind Weyland.

"Thank you all for coming. Seven days ago one of my satellites over Antarctica was hunting for mineral deposits when a sudden heat bloom beneath the earth outlined this..." Weyland paused as the screen changed to show the outlines of a building. "The red lines indicate solid walls. Through thermal imaging we've generated a rough three dimensional image of the structure. It's massive... Containing hundreds of rooms, all built around a central core. My experts tell me it's a pyramid. What they can't agree on is who built it and when." Weyland paused to survey the room.

"What caused the heat bloom?" Thomas asked.

"We don't know." Weyland replied, as Sebastian looked through all the photos that were on the database.

"One expert tells me that this feature is reminiscent of the Aztecs..." Weyland continues as he gestures to the screen. The screen changes. "Another tells me this is probably Cambodian." The slide changes again. "But everyone agrees that the smooth side is definitively Egyptian" Weyland finishes.

"Why would anyone build a pyramid out here?" Miller asks.

"Ancient maps show that Antarctica was once free of ice. It's likely that the continent was once habitable." Thomas answered Miller.

"Mr. DeRosa?" Max asked.

Sebastian moves closer to the wall examining the pictures as best as he could, whilst also comparing them to one on his tablet. "I think your experts are right." He declared after a while.

"Which one?" Weyland asked.

"All of them." Sebastian stated. "The Egyptians, the Cambodians and the Aztecs all built pyramids. Three separate cultures that lived thousands of miles apart..."

"With no communication between them." Thomas cut Sebastian off.

"Yet what they built was almost identical." Sebastian finished sending Thomas a look.

Lex observed the photo then the reaction of the scientist. "Meaning what exactly?" She asked.

"This might be the first pyramid ever built." He said excitedly after he had turned to Lex hoping to impress her.

"Built by whom?"Miller questions.

Sebastian made a considerable effort to contain his excitement. "The master culture from which all others are derived." He answers leaving the room as silent as a tomb.

"If it could be the first pyramid built, it could also be the last. An amalgam of the ones that came before it. There's no proof of any connection between the cultures." Weyland said.

"This photo _is _the proof." Sebastian replies looking at Weyland.

"Thank you." Weyland said dismissively.

"Um..." Miller began. "I can't tell you who built it but if I could take a sample from it, I could tell you how old it is."

"Within how many years, Professor?" Weyland asked.

"Actually it's Doctor. And I'll give you the exact year." Miller said also hoping to impress Lex, several other men glared at the two that were making moves on the dark beauty that they had for a guide they all felt extremely jealous that they hadn't made the first move.

"Well Dr. Miller, I'm offering to put you right next to it." Weyland replied.

"Where exactly on the ice is this?" Lex asked.

Weyland looked at the dark skinned female. "Bouvetoya Island. But it's not on the ice it's 2000ft under it." Weyland said as the next picture appeared. "Directly below this abandoned whaling station which will serve as our base camp."

"Mr. Quinn." Max prompted.

Quinn took a step forward and looked around the room. "Mr. Stafford, you are looking at the best drilling team in the world. We'll chew to that depth in seven days." Quinn retorted and his team nodded in agreement, Lex snorted mentally she could use one of her gifts and stand on the pyramids front steps in seconds.

"And add three weeks on top of that to train everyone here." Lex said.

Weyland looked at Lex and said. "We don't have that kind of time. I'm not the only with as satellite over Antarctica. Others will be here soon."

Lex stared at Weyland like he was crazy. "Maybe I wasn't clear." She began scornfully. "No one in this room is ready for this trip." The men that were forming small crushes on her backed away from her at her tone but also felt a little insulted.

"That is why I invited you here." Weyland replied curtly.

Lex glared slightly at Weyland. "Bouvetoya is one of the most isolated places in the world. The nearest land in a thousand miles away, there's no help if we run into trouble."

Silence greeted her statement.

"You're right, it's a no man's land. But the train has left the station, I think I speak for everyone aboard this ship, that this is worth the risk." He said, Lex looked at the gathered people at the chorus of excitement that showed that they had made up their minds about this, though some of the men agreed only so they could impress the dark beauty.

Lex stood and sighed. "Then find another guide." And she walked out of the room to her room.


	3. Chapter II

**Chapter II**

_Lex stood and sighed. "Then find another guide." And she walked out of the room to her room._

"I spoke with Mr. Weyland, the money's been wired to your foundation's account, and the chopper's refuelling to fly you back home." Max said from the door to Lex's room as she packed up her things.

"Who'd you get?" Lex asked curiously as Stafford turned to leave.

Stafford stopped and turned slightly. "Gerald Murdoch." He answered. Lex froze and turned to the door, staring in disbelief at the empty doorway.

It was a couple of hours later that she made it to Weyland's office on the ship, she knocked when she got there but she entered before Weyland could invite her inside.

"Gerald Murdoch has two seasons of ice time. He's not ready." Lex said cutting to the chase.

"Don't worry about it." Weyland rebuked.

Lex growled silently. "What about Paul Woodman or Andrew Keeler?" she asked, forcing herself to not show that she was annoyed.

"Called them" Weyland replied.

"And?" Lex asked, getting more annoyed by the minute.

At that precise moment Max entered the room with some paperwork for his boss

"They gave the same bullshit answer you did." Stafford replied.

"Bullshit?" Lex asked herself quietly, before she said in a louder voice. "Mr. Weyland, what I told you wasn't bullshit; if you rush into this, people will get hurt or maybe even die."

"Ms. Woods, I don't understand your objections. We're not asking you to take us up Everest, we need you to take us from the ship to the pyramid and then back to the ship." Weyland said before sitting back and finished with "That's it's."

"What about inside the pyramid?" Lex asked the arrogant billionaire, her instincts were warning her that she wasn't going to like the answer.

"You don't have to worry about that Mss Woods once were at the site we have the best equipment, technology and experts that money can buy." Weyland responded.

Lex's eyes narrowed as she nearly lost control over her abilities. "Mr. Weyland when I lead a team I don't ever leave my team." She said, it was true when she lead a team they became a temporary pride to her.

"I admire your passion, I wish you were coming with us." Weyland said sincerely stunning Lex for a fleeting moment.

"You're making a mistake." Lex finally says before walking out on Weyland for the second time.

_I wish I was young and healthy._ Weyland secretly wishes he wouldn't have minded a woman such as Lex as a wife, he could tell that the male that managed to tame the wild and animalistic spirit that she had would have her full loyalty and devotion, he could also tell that any male that wanted her would have to prove themselves to her before she would even entertain the notion of giving him a chance.

Lex stood on the deck watching the Aurora Borealis that lit up the sky, she thought over what Weyland had said and how he had been feeling, she had kept everything that she was taught in the Institute sharp, she had never truly lost any of the abilities or skills that she had gained. Her head snapped to the side at the sound of footsteps approaching, when she sees Miller and Sebastian she relaxes slightly.

"It's in the upper atmosphere. Streams of protons and electrons from the Sun are deflected by the Earth's magnetic field causing a solar radiation storm." Miller says as he approaches Lex, never giving up in his hope to impress her.

"It's beautiful." Sebastian said looking at the Aurora like Lex. "Even the way you describe it, Professor." Sebastian finishes teasingly making Miller blush slightly before glaring at him for ruining his attempt to impress the dark beauty that he and many other men hoped would lead the expedition.

"Actually it's Doctor." Miller corrected again, still a little put out with Sebastian, but then turned to Lex and said. "I agree."

Lex looked at the Aurora for a moment more before saying. "Shackelton called Antarctica the 'last great journey left to man'. It's the one place left in the world that no one owns, that's completely free." She said with a touch of longing in her voice then she continued with a smirk. "Me?" she asked innocently. "I'm sort of partial to the penguins."

"I wish you would reconsider coming with us." Miller said a bit forlornly. Lex looked at him and smiled a small smile but shakes her head, Miller then leaned in thrilled that he was this close to her and felt a short burst of victory for being the first one to be this close to the Wild Beauty as they had started to call her. "Not for me, obviously. But I think a lot of the other guys really need you." When he saw the look Lex was giving him he continued. "C'mon don't make me pull out pictures of my kids again."

"Your kids aren't that cute." Lex replied, with a small smile to show that she meant no offence.

"What if we got pictures of other peoples kids? Would that do it?" Sebastian asked.

Lex smiles and considered her chances against Millers humour and Sebastian's charm.

"Want my advice?" She asked them after she looked back up to the sky and continued before they could answer. "Stay on the boat." She knew what was going to happen and she wanted to avoid it if possible.

"Were not staying on the boat." Sebastian replies with Miller nodding his agreement.

"Guys, the first rule of this job is to not take people to places they're not ready to go." Lex explained with a sigh.

"Listen." Sebastian began. "I was on the next plane to Mexico. My team's waiting but if Weyland is even half right, this could change history."

"Weyland is more concerned with making another billion than with anything else." Lex said then added. "Including your safety."

"Let me ask you something. You're here, you know this place. Do we stand a better chance of surviving with you than with a number two choice?" Sebastian askes, and from the look on Lex's face he could see that they did. "Because if we do and you don't go and something does go wrong, are you going to be able to live with that?" he asked.

"Ms Woods." Rousseau interrupted, and Lex turned to her.

"Your helicopter's refuelled. They're waiting for you." Rousseau continued when she saw that she had the other woman's attention and then she left.

Lex stayed on the deck for a while longer until she makes her decision. Once she made her decision she went to get ready, she knew that she would curse herself severely for this decision later.

When she walks back into the Piper Marus hold for a second time she see that they are preparing to leave. Lex was in full Antarctic gear that she had made herself to work around her unique DNA situation, she also had some weapons that had been designed and made by herself stashed all over herself.

"Move these Haaglunds out." She heard Quinn yell at his team.

Lex stepped forward to address the expedition.

"I told you she'd stay, it's my animal magnetism. It's irresistible." Miller whispers to Sebastian. Lex glanced at them quickly before shaking her head, he hadn't even proved himself to her and he thought he had a claim on her, clearly he was a bit senile.

"Everybody." Lex called out. "Gather round." She continued once she had everyone's attention. "It's my job to keep you alive on this expedition and I need your help to do that, since I don't have time to train you properly I'm laying down three simple rules." She said as the rest of the expedition took in the equipment behind her and Rousseau handed out walkie-talkies.

"One: No one goes anywhere alone. Ever." She began. "Two: Everyone will maintain constant communication. Three: Unexpected things will happen. When they do… no one tries to play hero." She said, she had been taking in the reactions and feelings of the rest of the expedition.

"Foe some of us it just come naturally." Miller joked, gaining a smile from Lex and laughs from a few others.

"Laugh it up beaker. You get scars like this when some 'hero' on your team screws up their assignment." Verheiden said coldly, Miller looks at him and there were no more jokes around him.

"If one of us goes down. We're all going after them." Lex said as she looked around. "Understood?" She continued.

"Understood." Various voices chanted back at her. Once that was done she walked over to the only other female on the expedition.

"Seven seasons on the ice and I've never seen a gun save someone's life." She said when she saw that Adele was cleaning an automatic handgun.

"I don't plan on using it." Adele replied.

"Then why bring it?" Lex asked curiously.

"Same principle as a condom. I'd rather have one and not need it, then not have it and need one. I'm Adele." The other woman introduced herself.

"Lex." She replied.

"I'm glad you decided to stay." Adele said.

Lex smiled teasingly. "Couldn't let you have all the fun in scaring all these males now can I?"Adele laughed at that in agreement, all the men felt the icy cold hand of fear grip them at the laugh that Adele let out.

A couple of hours later they were out on the ice on their way to the wailing station that would be their base camp, they were advancing as quickly as they could on the ice.

Lex looked out at the moon, she was riding with Sebastian; the men had decided to split the women up. She then glanced over to her companion and saw that he was fiddling with a bottle cap.

"What's with the bottle cap?" She asked.

Sebastian looked up at her before he glanced down at the cap. "It's a valuable archaeological find." He replied.

"I can see that." Lex replied with a smile. Sebastian turns to the moon.

"When I was a kid growing up in Sicily, you know what they'd call a moon that big?" He asked Lex.

She looks at Sebastian and shakes her head.

"La Luna del Cacciatore." Sebastian said.

"La Luna del Cacciatore." Lex repeated.

"Brava." Sebastian congratulated her.

"What does it mean?"She asked.

"Hunters moon." He replied, Lex snorted mentally _Figures, I'm right in its gaze and I'm an Apex predator._ Lex thought to herself, as she looked up at the moon.

A few hours later they arrived at a ridge were they stopped, Weyland disembarks from his Haaglund soon followed by the rest of the expedition. Around them, the snow was falling slow and steady as Lex moved closer to the edge if the ridge, as she could see more than the others, she could see the whaling station and there was no indication that anyone else had been there since 1904, the year that it had been abandoned.

"Take those over a bit further! Connors!" Quinn yelled out. "Hold it guys… Keep the engines running!" he ordered his men.

"Hi." Lex heard Thomas greet someone, but obviously they didn't want to say anything.

"Be honest. You're a little disappointed that you didn't get a yellow jacket aren't you?" Thomas asked, Lex shook her head hopefully the one he was attempting to talk to would correct that misconception.

"They give the newbies the yellow jackets so that when you fall down a crevice and die, it's easier for us to spot your body." Adele replied curtly, Lex smirked it would take a lot to tie both her and Adele down to a man.

She turned and saw Thomas walk of, she used one of her psychic abilities to see what he thought of her new friend.

**Lovely girl.** She heard Thomas think, she grinned at that and was that sarcasm that she heard in his mental voice?

Lex turned back to what she could see in the dark she sighed mournfully and directed her eyes forward not looking up as her sight was sensitive, she then prepared a parachute flare gun and fired it sending a flare high into the sky, once it reached a certain height it exploded and illuminated the Whaling station in a glowing red light.

"It's an abandoned whaling station, according to your satellite imagery Mr. Weyland the pyramid is located directly beneath it." Lex said as she watched the red light die out.


	4. Chapter III

**Chapter III**

_Lex turned back to what she could see in the dark she sighed mournfully and directed her eyes forward not looking up as her sight was sensitive, she then prepared a parachute flare gun and fired it sending a flare high into the sky, once it reached a certain height it exploded and illuminated the Whaling station in a glowing red light._

"_It's an abandoned whaling station, according to your satellite imagery Mr. Weyland the pyramid is located directly beneath it." Lex said as she watched the red light die out._

It took them an hour to reach the whaling station, but once there they made their way down what used to be the Main Street, as they walked they illuminated the frozen ghost town with their flashlights, to the full humans it was creepy as hell, but for Lex it wasn't creepy at all, in fact she enjoyed the silence.

"Spread out." Max said as he glanced around the abandoned station. "We'll use this place as a base camp." He continued but paused when he saw that their guide was actually enjoying their stroll through the creepy frozen ghost town. "Mr. Quinn." He called once he got over the fact that Lex looked quite content in the creepy setting. "Begin drilling operations as soon as possible." He ordered.

"I'm on it." Quinn responded.

Lex and Sebastian had made it to the stations Harbour, they saw that a giant black cauldron dominated most of the harbour, Lex estimated that it was 15ft in height and 30ft across, they also saw that one of its four 'feet'had been knocked away causing the tank to tilt at crazy angle but that fact that it was frozen stopped it from falling into the icy Antarctic ocean.

"What are these?" Sebastian asked her as he gestured to the whale bones.

"Whale bones… This station was abandoned in 1904, everyone just disappeared over night. It was a big mystery back then." Lex explained.

"Witch's Cauldron?" Sebastian asked again but this time indicating the massive black cauldron.

"The 'Separator', throw whale blubber in, heat it and separate out the fat. Whale oil was big business back then." She said as she continued to walk through the station.

"How did they get ships in here?" Sebastian asked as he looked down at the frozen water.

"The station only operated in the summer, when the ice melted but as you know it was abandoned in 1904."

"How come?" Sebastian asked looking at Lex for the answer.

"Nothing left to hunt I guess." Lex replied.

Miller walked into the mess hall and see that all of the cutlery and furniture that was in the frozen building was frozen to where it had been left in 1904, he tried to pick up one of the cups but that handle broke off. He then set up his camera with the timer set..

"One for National Geographic." Miller muttered as he rushed to take up position but he was to slow and he almost blinded himself for the third time on the expedition. The flash from the camera disturbs something that had been taking refuge in the mess hall and causes it to move about.

"Hello?" Miller called out into the semi-darkness of the mess hall, but the movement stops after he called out but then continues.

"Come out of there or… you'll be wearing your ass for a hat." Miller said trying to do his best to imitate Verheiden, the movement stops again and Miller knew that he was easy prey, the noise starts up again but louder this time and moving closer to where he was standing.

"Jesus!" Miller yells when something grabs his shoulder, he turns quickly and saw that it was only Lex.

"No one goes anywhere alone." She reprimanded Miller, as he attempts to calm himself down, but fails.

"There's something in here." Miller said.

"I doubt it." Lex replied, as she looked around.

"Over there…" Miller said pointing in the direction that the noise had been coming from. Lex turned in the direction that Miller had pointed and dropped into a semi-feral crouch, ready for an attack. _Better safe than sorry._ Lex thought as she moved on silent feet with her flashlight raised to pierce the darkness even if she would rather turn it off and move closer in the dark to give her an advantage.

"Listen." Miller continued softly and that is when they both hear the sound of movement, from behind a table a penguin emerges.

"For God's sake…" Miller cursed.

"It's a penguin." Lex deadpanned as she looked at the earth bound bird.

"I thought it might be…" Miller said, Lex glanced at the chemical engineer and knew that he hadn't thought that all. Miller stared at the penguin and the bird stars back, inquisitive and unafraid.

"Careful…" Lex cautioned with a small smirk knowing that Miller was truly out of his depth. "…they do bite." She continued, she turned around when she heard shouting outside and rolls her eyes, as she walks out of the frozen mess hall Miller takes the penguin's picture, before he too left.

When Lex and Miller are outside they see Sebastian standing there flushed and exited.

"Over here! You're not going to believe this!" He said, before he lead them around the corner of the mess hall to reveal a large gaping hole in the snow and ice, itwas perfectly round about 10ft across, the rest of the team was gathering around the hole, but parted to let Lex through.

Lex saw that Quinn's drilling equipment is off to one side not even unpacked yet.

"It's drilled at a perfect 30 angle." Quinn said once Weyland and Lex were there at the front of the gathering.

"How far does it go down?" She asked to keep up appearances.

"All the way to the pyramid." Weyland said as Quinn nods to Sven, who lights a flare and then threw it down the shaft, the flare falls but soon it was swallowed by the darkness they never see it hit the bottom but Lex does.

"How was it done?" Miller asked as he looked at Quinn.

"Thermal equipment of some kind." Quinn responded after glancing at the scientist.

"Like yours?" Weyland asked with an eyebrow raised. Quinn shakes his head as he glanced at the closest building to the hole, whatever cut through the ice also cut clean through the building, vaporizing wooden beams and metal walls.

"More advanced." Quinn finally said. "And incredibly powerful, I've never seen anything like it." Quinn admits.

"I told you that I wasn't the only one with a satellite over the Antarctic." Weyland said to Lex who rolled her eyes. "Maybe it's the Chinese… or it could be the Russians. Whoever it is, they clearly have better equipment that we do." He said in disappointment.

"Listen, whoever cut this sliced through hard packed ice, the building, the beams and metal walls." Quinn said before pausing to look at the hole again. "We should find out what cut this before we proceed."

"I thought you were the best?" Max criticised, making Quinn bristle, he had worked hard to be considered the best.

"I _am_ the best." Quinn stated with a slight glare.

"It doesn't make any sense." Lex muttered, and when she saw that the others were looking at her she continued. "Where is their base camp?" She asked.

Quinn looked around and saw that Lex was right there were no signs that any other human being had been there since 1904. "She's right." Quinn said.

"They must be already down there then." Max said as Lex re-examined the hole with critical eyes, but in reality she already knew what had caused this and she wasn't going to tell as the others would think her crazy.

"No look at the ice. There's no ridges, nobody's been down there." She said after a moment.

"The satellite passed over eleven minutes ago." Weyland said as he checked his watch. "Get me the data." He ordered Max, who moved away to do just that.

A couple of minutes later Weyland brought up the thermal image of the pyramid showing them the familiar interlocking square shapes, the red lines indicating the walls of the pyramid and a yellow line that lead straight to the pyramid.

"There it is. Clear as day." Weyland stated. "And this time yesterday…" Then he brought up another image, the one that was taken 24 hours earlier, the noticeable difference is that there was no yellow line leading down to the pyramid. "…nothing." Weyland continued.

"So whoever cut this, they did it in the last 24 hour." Sebastian said.

"That's just not possible." Quinn stated.

"It's here." Sebastian began in a matter of fact manner. "It's done." He finished.

"I'm telling you there's no team and no machine in the world that could cut to this depth in twenty-four hours." Quinn rebuked.

"The only way we're going to know for sure is to get down there and find out." Weyland said, and that was all it took to get everyone moving to get ready to go down to the pyramid.

A winch and pulley system was built over the mouth of the hole by Sven, Boris and Mikkel, Miller watches Quinn's team work he reaches up and scratches his head then he pulled the woollen hat off in annoyance.

"Put your hat back on." Lex said as she passed him.

"It itches." Miller replies, still not putting the hat back on.

"I saw a man lose both his ears with frostbite." Lex began in a reprimanding tone of voice. "With the ear canal exposed, you can see a full inch inside your head." Lex smiled sweetly, as Miller paled and hurriedly put his hat back on, she then walked away.

"Okay guys!" Quinn yelled. "What's taking so long? There's a storm coming!" He shouted.

Lex approached one of the Haaglunds that they had managed to bring down to the whaling station, she opened the door thinking it was empty as she hadn't checked where everyone was through her gifts, she saw Weyland sitting in the cag breathing in air from a portable oxygen tank when he lowers the mask he begins to cough a bit. To Lex his power and wealth meant nothing now that she saw him in such a vulnerable state.

Both stare at each other for a couple of minutes, before Lex said gently, her maternal instincts awakening and it didn't matter that Weyland was older than her. "There's no room for sick men on this expedition."

"My doctors tell me the worst is behind me." Weyland said confidently, but Lex could feel the deceit that was pouring of off him.

"You're not a very good liar Mr. Weyland." Lex said shaking her head a bit."Stay on the ship, we'll update you at the top of every hour." She continued, Weyland looks at her and wished again that she was a part of his family.

"You know when you get sick, you think about your life and how you're going to be remembered. You know what I realized would happen when I go?" He asked the strong woman, who shook her head. "A ten percent fall in share prices, maybe twelve. And that's it, I need this." He said in a pleading voice.

Lex looks at Weyland and considered what he had said before saying. "I've heard this speech before." She said with a sigh. "My step-dad broke his leg 700ft from the summit of Mt. Rainier, he was like you." She said fondly she would continue to wish that he was her biological father, until her biological father proved himself to her. "He wouldn't go back or let us stop. We reached the top and he opened a bottle of champagne." She continued with a sad smile. "Had my first drink with step-dad at 14.400ft."

It's a memory that she would always carry dear to her heart. "On the way down he developed a blood clot in his leg that travelled to his lung. He suffered for four hours before dying twenty minutes from the base."

"You think that's the last thing your step-dad remembers? The pain?" Weyland asked but Lex shakes her head she didn't know as she had sworn to herself that she wouldn't look into her family's minds unless they asked. "Or drinking champagne with his step-daughter at 14.000ft in the air?" he continued

She stared at him for a moment considering his words before nodding her acceptance and closed the door, after silently communicating that he could come.


	5. Chapter IV

**Chapter IV**

_She stared at him for a moment considering his words before nodding her acceptance and closed the door, after silently communicating that he could come._

A few dozen members of the expedition were rappelling down the tunnel, with helmet lights illuminating the way, every 20ft Lex hangs lights off of pitons that she had placed in the ice; the team was followed by several sledges that carried any necessary equipment.

On the surface Quinn and his team are struggling against the storm that had formed, tents were being uprooted, and it was making covering the equipment extremely difficult.

"Quinn says there's a storm." Max said after rappelling down to Weyland.

"Will it affect us?" Weyland asked after he had turned to Lex.

She laughed a bit before saying. "We're 700ft deep. Quinn could be setting of an atomic bomb up there and we would never even notice." At that everyone was reassured.

Suddenly a tent is uprooted, it flies past Quinn to quickly for him to catch it, and gets jammed in the winching gear.

Down 700ft Weyland's line is jerked off tightly and catches the side of the tunnel, smashing the billionaire into the ice, for a second nothing happens making Weyland think that he is safe but then the line snaps and he begins hurtling down the shaft, he's moving too fast for anyone to catch him.

"Man down!" Sebastian yells. "Lex watch out!"

Lex turns around quickly and saw Weyland sliding down the tunnel, she grabs one of four ice axes that she carries with her and drove it into the ice stopping Weyland form sliding down any further, she knew that had she hesitated for a moment then Weyland would have died, she helped him up and secured his rope again making sure that what happened wouldn't happen again.

"You ok?" She asked as she worked, Weyland nodded. "Thank you." She said.

"For what? You saved my life… remember?" Weyland retorted.

"For what you said earlier." She replied, and Weyland nodded in understanding.

Max grabbed his radio and asked. "What the hell is going on up there Quinn?"

Quinn stood by the winching gear watching as his men work frantically to get the tent out of the mechanism.

"A jam in the winching gear." Quinn reported.

"Get it fixed right away." Max replied in a curt tone.

"No problem." Quinn said then turned the radio off and muttered "English asshole." Under his breath drawing slight smiles from his men.

The whaling station was in the clod grip of the storm, Quinn has a difficult time making his way through the snow that covers the ground, and all the while he shouts order to his men.

"I told you to get that tied down!" He shouts at Boris. "Get everybody under cover!" He shouts a few minutes later as tents are continuously uprooted by the wind and flung into the air like tissue paper. "Everyone inside!" He yells for a second time. "Move it! Now!" He urges as he moves his men into some of the buildings of the whaling station. "Go! Go!" he yells again.

Nobody notices the spacecraft that passes over head, as its bulk is lost in the storm covered by the flying snow, and any sound that it made was covered by the howling wind, a moment passes before Quinn looks up but sees nothing as the spacecraft has already passed and leaves only turbulence in its wake.

Once everyone was in the shelter of the whaling stations buildings or in the tunnel leading to the pyramid, it looks as if no one has stepped foot there since 1904, the only sign that there was life was the abandoned winching system with the digital counter still flashing the depth that the team were at, 1.980ft, 1.990ft, 2.000ft they had reached the bottom.

Down in the icy cavern that surrounds the pyramid it's calm and silent the polar opposite of the surface.

Lex looks around before lighting another flare, shining light on beautiful but surreal sight, they're surrounded by giant stalactites and stalagmites made from frozen water, everything around them shimmers in the light from the flare, up ahead the passage opens up into the cavern that the pyramid sits in.

There is no telling how big the cavern is, the ceiling is vaulted of far above them not giving them a hint of how far up the cavern goes.

"Let's get those lights up." Max ordered.

"Any second now." Connors replied, as he and the rest of the men worked on unpacking several sets of flood-lights, after unpacking them they attach them to the power cables which are connected to the generators on the surface.

"I don't understand…" Weyland says as he looks around the cavern, breathless from the decent. "No equipment, no sign of another team."

"Well this tunnel didn't dig itself." Max replied.

"We have power!" Connors yelled cutting of whatever Max was going to say next.

"Let's light her up!" Max yelled in response, then as one multiple beams of powerful flood-lights illuminate the cavern, Lex had to shield her sensitive eyes for longer than the rest of the team, she growled lowly at not being able to see, but when she can her annoyance flees and in its place is awe, she may have seen it in her visions but seeing it in her mind and in real life are two different things.

The pyramid towers above them beautifully, the stone steps were covered by blue ice crystals and were lined with statues of beings that were clearly their gods. Lex turned to Weyland once she had gotten over the sight of the pyramid. "Congratulations, Mr. Weyland. Looks like you'll be leaving your mark after all."

Weyland share a smile and a look with the dark skinned woman, despite being breathless he turned to the rest of the team.

"Thank you all for this." He said before pausing to take a breath. "Let's make history."

Back on the surface Quinn and his men are inside several of the buildings and all hear a primal battle cry that is issued by something before it is taken by the wind.

Back underground the team make their way up the stairs and into the entrance hall of the pyramid that is halfway up the stairs, once inside Lex illuminates a section of the wall and sees a Predator and an Alien locked in combat, she glances down at her watch and takes in the reading that it is showing her and the time comparing it to the vision that she had received.

"I recognize the Egyptian." Lex hears Thomas say. "But not the other two."

"The second line is Aztec, pre-conquest era. The third is Cambodian, looks like a mixture of Bantu and Sanskrit." Sebastian said as he examined the wall. "Impressed?" he asked Lex when he caught her looking at him.

Lex smirked slightly and said "Maybe." Causing the other men to glare at the Mexican Professor.

"Then you were right, the pyramid does contain all three cultures?" Weyland asked.

"That's what it looks like." Sebastian replies still looking at the wall. "This goes against every history book that's ever been written." He continued.

"…You may… choose… to enter. Those who choose may enter." Thomas translated slowly.

"It's like an ancient welcoming mat." Miller said of to the side as he looked around the huge entrance hall.

"Who taught you to translate?" Sebastian questioned Thomas unimpressed.

"Funny, he looks just like you." Thomas replied uncaringly getting a laugh from Lex at the mini argument that was going on between them.

"It's not 'choose', partner." Sebastian rebuked "It's 'chosen'." He corrected, as he continues to examine the writing. "Only the… chosen ones may enter." He says lowly.

Verheiden is the first one to step into the pyramid, stepping on an ornate tile that sinks slightly into the ground that no one but Lex notices, making her close her eyes and whisper "So it has begun." Knowing that it was a trigger.

Deep in the pyramid in a chamber that hasn't been active for 100 years, there's a pool filled with a substance that is similar to liquid nitrogen, chains of vast durability and strength run from the ceiling into the pool, the tile that Verheiden stepped on activates the machine, and it begins to raise a massive Alien Queen from the pool, she is covered in a thin sheet of ice.

She is connected to the machine via a complex web of pipes and tubes that pierce her body in several places, as she is raised it is revealed that she is shackled to the machine as everyone of her limbs are restrained, her 'crown' has been pierced several times and now has chains running through the holes that were created by the piercing.

Minutes pass before she begins to awaken, she flexes any limb that she can, as soon as she has woken up enough arches of electricity begin to hit her, making her begin to produce eggs that are put on a conveyor belt and taken from her to another room, she lays a single egg every 15-20 seconds, we are now able to understand that this chamber was built to service the Alien Queen.

When the Massive Alien matriarch sees that her eggs are being taken from her, she starts to strain against her restraints but it is useless, in the end she settles for a scream of frustration.

Back with the team Lex hears the Alien Queen scream out her frustration, she turns her attention to the future to see if it was possible to avoid what she knew was going to happen but she see that there is no way out of what will happen.

"I've never seen anything like it." Sebastian mutters. "The hieroglyphics look to be some kind of hybrid language… Containing both Aztec and Egyptian characteristics." He continued.

Miller was near a stone running a spectral analysis. "This reading says that these stones are at least 10.000 years old." He reports after checking the reading again.

"That's impossible. Check it again." Sebastian said looking at Miller.

"I already did." Miller said as he too looked at Sebastian.

Lex had been listening to the conversation with half an ear, as she was concentrating on dropping small strobe lights behind her, she then realizes that Sebastian was watching her.

"They'll burn for six hours, we'll be able to find our way back" She explained and he nodded.

Lex lead the team into what she knew was the sacrificial chamber, the room had a vaulted ceiling with bizarre imagery etched onto the walls, in the room there were seven stone slabs that had a mummified cadavers on each one.

"These are…?" Weyland asked as he gestured to the slabs.

"Sacrificial slabs." Sebastian replies absently as he looks around the room.

"Just like the Aztecs and Egyptians. Whoever built this pyramid believed in ritual sacrifice." Thomas said.

"It's almost perfectly preserved." Miller said as he studied one of the skeletons.

"This is where they offered the 'chosen ones' to the gods." Thomas explained for the ones that didn't know.

"Those that were chosen would lie here." Sebastian said as he circled one of the slabs not noticing that he had everyone's attention. "They weren't bound or tied in any way. They went to their deaths willingly. Men and Women, it was considered an honour." Sebastian finished once he saw that he had Lex's attention.

"Lucky them." Lex said before she runs her fingers around a circular, bowl like indentation that was at the base of the slab. "What's this for?" She asked to keep up appearances.

"Some think it's were the heart was placed after it was torn from the body." Sebastian explained.

Weyland's flashlight illuminate a grate on the floor, Max strikes a flare and drops it through one of the holes in the grate, it falls for a while until it hits something.

"What have you found Max?" Weyland asked as he approached the dark skinned man

"It's a shaft to another level, looks like another room down there." Max reported, Weyland turns and the beam of his flash light hits a huge pile of human bones, many of the skeletons were still intact.

"There must be a hundred people there." Weyland said as he looked at the pile of bones.

"At least." Max corrected quietly as he too stared at the pile, the others clusters around the mountain of bones.

Thomas examine the hieroglyphics written for a moment before translating them. "They gave their lives… So that the hunt may begin."


	6. Chapter V

**Chapter V**

_Thomas examine the hieroglyphics written for a moment before translating them. "They gave their lives… So that the hunt may begin." _

"What happened here?" Adele asked, as she examined the ribcage of a skeleton and saw that a hole had been punched through the bones.

"It was common in ritual sacrifice to take the heart of the victim." Thomas said.

"That's not where your heart is, besides it looks like the bones were bent straight out. Something broke out of this body." Adele said and saw that everyone reacted to what she had said, all except Lex who moved to her side and saw that her friend had been right.

"Incredible. The entire skull column removed in one piece." Miller said as he holds up his find for everyone to see. "The cleanness of the cut… remarkable. Straight through the bone, no abrasions." He continued.

"Did you hear that?" Lex asked as she turned around checking every door way that lead to the chamber.

The entire team looks around and then turn to Lex, Sebastian and Thomas are a part from the rest of the team a noise startles them, it's nearly imperceptible but it's there.

"Air… moving through the tunnels." Miller said.

"I don't know, maybe." Sebastian replied as he moves forward, cautiously edging his way toward the source of the noise, the team shines their flashlights, the beams of light cut through the gloom like lasers as they illuminate the chamber. Sebastian casts multiple shadows on the walls around him, if anything the lights are making it even creepier. Miller starts to handle the spinal columns that are hanging from the wall.

"Be careful with that." Sebastian said to Miller; Sebastian has to crouch in order to reach the back of the chamber as the ceiling slopes down dramatically, everything around him was claustrophobic and dark, something then falls from the ceiling and lands on Sebastian, who freaks out and throws it away from his face.

Lex spotted it on the floor not that far away from where Sebastian was, she approached and knelt down next to it and saw that it was a creature that had multiple legs and a long tail.

"Whatever it is, it's been dead a while the bones have calcified." Miller said as he examined the Alien facehugger.

"You must have dislodged it from a crack in the ceiling." Lex said, as she looked up.

"No idea how long it's been here but the temperature has kept it preserved, looks like some kind of scorpion." Sebastian said as he looked at the creature.

"No." Lex said as she shook her head. "Climate's too hostile for a scorpion." She explained when the others looked at her.

"Ever seen anything like it?" Sebastian asked Lex as she turns the facehugger over in her hands whilst she studies it, she knew what was going to happen but if she told them the truth then they wouldn't believe her, so she shook her head.

"Maybe it's a species that's never been discovered." Sebastian continued, as Lex looked at the facehugger again.

"Maybe." Lex said as she set the frozen Alien reproducer down and stood up, she shone her flashlight down another passageway, now that they were inside the temperature was much warmer, so she took of her jacket. "The ambient temperature in here is a lot warmer than ground level, so you can take off your jackets." She said.

The others all remove their jackets grateful to be able to get out of the confining and restrictive garment.

Weyland turned to Max and said. "Time to move on. Let's move to that lower room Max."

"Time to move out everybody. Ms. Woods?" Max asked as he gestured for her to take the lead; Sebastian, Miller, Weyland and Connors follow Lex down a tunnel, Max stayed behind momentarily.

"You stay here." Max said to Thomas. "Rousseau, stay with him, and keep a team with you." He then turned back to Thomas and said "Catalog everything."

"Let's go." He said to everyone.

Max then leaves the room and joins the others, Thomas takes out his digital video camera.

**UUUU**

Back on the surface Klaus was keeping watch, the storm hadn't lost any of its potency which meant that he was huddled by one of the walls of the mess hall trying to stay out of the worst of it.

In the distance he spotted a figure emerging from the storm, he raised his Desert Eagle and points it at the figure.

"Hold it right there, identify yourself!" Klaus yelled above the raging storm.

"It's…" The figure stops when he saw that he was staring down the barrel of the biggest handgun in the world. "Quinn!" the figure continued and then takes of his hood and mask so that Klaus could see his face, Klaus lowered the Desert Eagle. "What the hell are you doing?" Quinn asked.

"Following orders, Weyland wants this area secure." Klaus responded.

"From who?" Quinn asked incredulously.

"Claim jumpers, the Russians, the Chinese… another corporation. Anybody out there." Klaus responded.

"Trust me, there's nobody out there." Quinn said before he continued struggling through the storm to check on the equipment and ensuring that everything was tied down correctly.

The mess hall was the closest structure to the mouth of the mouth of the tunnel, the walls were groaning under the strain of the storm, Sven and Boris were huddled around a camping stove, boiling water for tea, at the back Mikkel was working on a space heater.

"When are you going to get that heater started?" Sven asked as he watched Mikkel work.

"It's coming… its coming." Mikkel muttered as he was finishing up.

Outside Klaus saw something in the depths of the storm, as it got closer he could see that it was a flickering humanoid shape given away by the flurries of snow.

"Quinn?" Klaus called out, but the shape kept moving, a moment later it was joined by another shimmering figure, they were heading for the mouth of the tunnel, and Klaus saw that that put them right in the path of the advancing figures.

"Quinn?" Klaus called again as he raised his Desert Eagle and takes aim, seconds later he has one of the figures in his sights.

The sound of a gunshot startles everyone inside the mess hall, they hear another, at that they all shot up and grabbed the weapon that was closest to them.

"Mikkel!" Sven called. "Get on the radio! Now!"

The door was blown open suddenly but they see nothing entering but a flurry of snow, every man takes aim.

Taro entered the building and looked around at the Ooman's that were inside, he hits one of the Ooman sending him crashing to the ground, the force of the impact breaks his neck, a moment later he was in front of another and lifting him up off of the ground, the Ooman then starts to make gurgling noises.

After he had impaled him with his wrist blades, once the Ooman died Taro retracted his blades, he then notices the green light that is trained on him; he turns to last Ooman in the room and threw his combi-stick at the Ooman impaling him, the force of the throw slammed the Ooman against the wall and pinned him there, his feet hanging six inches of the ground. Taro watched as the Ooman stared at his weapon, which was protruding from the man's chest, in his last living moments.

Quinn runs towards the mess hall when he heard the sound of a gun being fired, he arrives at the entrance to the mess hall in minutes.

"What's all the…" Quinn began to say but cut himself off when he saw that the room was devastated, then he spots the bodies that were hanging from the rafters of the building, he tries to speak but he can't, then he saw a shimmering figure moving towards him, it was humanoid but not human.

The sound of metal on metal brought Quinn's attention downwards slightly until he sees twin blades, their razor sharp edges were covered in the steaming blood of dead men. Suddenly a spear appears from nowhere, said spear was heading straight at him, Quinn ducks out of the mess hall slamming the door in the process, the spear cuts through the door and his arm, he knew that he had only bought himself a few seconds and he uses them to run.

Quin stumbles through the storm before he suddenly ran into something, he looked up in shock to see a dead body, that body was what was left of Klaus once he got over the sight he noticed three more bodies all pf them were strung up by their ankles swaying in the wind, his entire team is dead.

Quinn sees Kalus' gun half berried in the sand, he quickly reached for it as he brought it up to aim the humanoid that had killed his team appeared out of thin air; the humanoid knocked the gun out of his hand.

Taro followed the Ooman that had run after he had thrown his ki'cti-pa at him, as he followed the Ooman he saw him pick up one of their primitive weapons making him huff before he knocked said weapon out of his hand, he prepares to fight this Ooman.

Quinn looks around frantically before he spotted a pipe buried in the snow, he dives to pick it up, after he had the pipe in his hand he charged at the humanoid but it swats it away as if it were a feather then proceeded to backhand him making him fall to the ground hard, stunning him, but he won't surrender so he begins to pick himself back up but as he was the humanoid stepped on his leg.

Taro watched as the Ooman male tried to pick himself up he raised his foot and stepped on the males leg breaking it, the Ooman screamed in pain, he then kicked him in the ribs sending the Ooman into the air and down into the depths of the tunnel, as he slid down the tunnel.

Range and Scar approached where he was standing at the mouth of the tunnel, the three let out their own battle cries, he brought up his wrist computer and saw that the homing signal was still strong before they began descending into the tunnel all the while they prepared themselves mentally for what was to come.

Quinn slid down the tunnel gaining speed by the second, he tries to grab at the icy walls of the tunnel but he could not find any perches, so he tries to grab the cabling of the winching system when that fails he takes out the ice axe that Woods insisted everyone carried, he thanked God that he had listened to her, he strikes the ice making shards of said ice spray everywhere.

**UUUU**

Back in the pyramid the beams from the flashlights cut through the darkness as they entered the room beneath the sacrificial chamber, Lex checked her digital compass before she looked up and said. "We must be directly beneath the sacrificial chamber."

After she said that she noticed a small glow coming from the other side of the chamber, the glows origin was the flares that Max had dropped, the team looks up and notice the shaft that connects the chamber that they were in to the sacrificial one.

"We're at the heart of the pyramid." Sebastian said as he looked around.

Lex had seen the sarcophagus but she shone her light on it anyway, the others followed her lead, the others all saw the sarcophagus that was in the center of the room, it was 15ft long and 4ft wide, the ornate room was lit up by flares that were in every corner.

Sebastian moved closer to examine the sarcophagus. "Some kind of sarcophagus…" He muttered. "Egyptian in design. These were built to protect the dead in their journey to the afterlife." He finished.

Weyland ran his hand over the ancient coffin. "Max, Verheiden. Open it." He ordered. The indicated men move to opposite sides of the sarcophagus, they push as hard as they could, but nothing.

"Excuse me…" Sebastian began, Max and Verheiden take a step back to let the scientist do their jobs, Sebastian moves closer and bends over the sarcophagus, and uses his flashlight to illuminate three dials that were inlaid into the stone.

"What is it?" Lex asked as she moved to stand at Sebastian's side.

"Some kind of combination lock." He replied in deep concentration, before he knelt by a line of pictograms and hieroglyphs that ran around the edge of the stone slab and studies the design. "This is The Long Count…" He said but explained when he saw the blank look on the faces of some of his companions. "The Mayan calendar. Days, months and years." He then glanced between the hieroglyphs and the combination lock. "This must be the combination lock." He mutters as he stood up again.

He then re-illuminated the three metal dials on top of the sarcophagus again. "Days… Months… Years…" he continued.

"But what date?" Lex asked, even if she already knew the answer.

"The dials are set for…" Sebastian said before he paused to translate date, "1904" he continued then he rechecked the hieroglyphics not believing what he was seeing. "Exactly 100 years ago."

"Someone opened this a hundred years ago?" Lex asked with an eyebrow raised.

Sebastian smiled at her in that knowing way of his. "Only one way to find out." He said before he turns the first dial on top of the sarcophagus, it moves easily he then glanced at Lex. "What's today's date?" he asked.

"October 10th." She replied after checking her watch.

"10… 10… 2004."He muttered as he spun each dial.

Weyland looked at the sarcophagus then at Sebastian. "You sure this is going to work?" he asked doubtfully.

"I don't know." Sebastian responded truthfully. As the tension grows, he spun the last two disks, everyone, except Lex, was stunned when the sarcophagus opened under its own power, all react as the lid finishes opening and slides to a halt, the interior was dark, there was no way that you could see inside without peering dangerously over the edge.

Sebastian cautiously approaches the edge with Lex, both peer inside. "Take a look at this." Sebastian said before the others begin to crowd around the sarcophagus and saw that it held three futuristic looking guns of alien design. "The master culture." Sebastian continued ominously.

**SFSFSFSF**

**Translation:**

Ki'cti-pa = combi stick or spear (Yautja language)


	7. Chapter VI

**Chapter VI**

_Sebastian cautiously approaches the edge with Lex, both peer inside. "Take a look at this." Sebastian said before the others begin to crowd around the sarcophagus and saw that it held three futuristic looking guns of alien design. "The master culture." Sebastian continued ominously._

Quinn's body lies near the tunnel entrance covered in frost, it looks liked he never regained consciousness and froze to death but then his eyes suddenly shoot open, he's alive but barely, his body temperature was low and his heart was barely beating. He could hardly move, the frost on his face begins to melt due to him sweating in fear.

Quinn watched as the three Predators appeared at the mouth of the tunnel and headed towards him, he tries to get away from them but he is frozen stiff, so he gave up and watched as they got closer and closer to where he was.

The three un-blooded Yautja make their way towards the pyramid, the Ooman that two of them thought was dead, was actually practically invisible to their helmets heat vision, this also nearly blinds them due to the lights that illuminate the pyramid, Taro made his way to where the nearly dead Ooman was laying and waited for him to reveal himself.

Quinn held his breath and couldn't believe that the Predators walked right by him and they were close enough for him to reach out and touch one of them, after a moment he moved his head in the direction of where the two Predators had disappeared in and saw them heading to the pyramid, he thought he was safe until he spotted the Predator that stood over him the last thing he saw was the Predators wrist blades descending on him.

Taro detracted his dah'kte after he had killed the pathetic Ooman, he then turned and made his way to the entrance were his brothers were waiting for him.

**UUUU**

Back in the sarcophagus chamber in the pyramid, Sebastian and Max were still standing over the guns whilst the others had settled in various parts of the room as they knew that they weren't going to be moving anytime soon.

"Any idea what those are?" Miller asked as he looked at Sebastian.

"Nope." Sebastian responded. "You?" he shot back.

"No." Miller replied as he looked at the weapons.

"Good thing we brought the experts?" Max said sarcastically.

Miller turned and glared at the dark skinned man. "Hey, we just found the equivalent of a DVD player in Moses' living room. Why don't you give us a second to figure it out?" he retorted.

"Well to me," Max began as he looked at the weapons for a second time. "It looks like sophisticated weaponry." He finished.

Lex looked at Weyland for a smile, but her mothering instincts came to the surface when she saw that he was having trouble breathing, he then took his portable oxygen bottle and takes a shot into his lungs.

"Is he alright?" Sebastian asked when he noted the state that Weyland was in.

"It's just asthma. He's fine." Lex replied gaining a grateful look from Weyland.

"Let me see if I can get a base reading off the metal." Miller said after a while, and steeped up and starts a basic spectral analysis of the metal careful not to disturb the weapons, his hand held computer started processing the information that it was receiving from the sensors. "There are two chemicals here. Tilanium and Cadmium 240." He reported.

"Never heard of them." Sebastian replied as he looked at the weapons then at his fellow scientist.

"You wouldn't have." Miller said as he observed other readings that the sensors had picked up. "They're found in meteorites." He continued.

"Meteorites?" Sebastian asked incredulously.

Miller sighed. "Whatever they are, they weren't made here." He said.

Lex shakes her head at the truth that Miller spoke, she glanced around and spread out one of her other powers that one that had kept her alive and had helped her more than any other gift she had been grafted with by the scientists back at the Cyrel Institute.

"When you say here, you mean…?" Sebastian asked as he raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"Earth." Miller replied. Verheiden looked concerned just like everyone else that was in the room except for Lex, she had her eyes focused on Weyland, she moved closer to the billionaire and asked. "How are you doing?"

Weyland nodded at her but she could see and feel that he was not doing well as his emotions had become slightly faded.

"We've been out long enough for today." She began. "We're going to set up base camp tonight at the whaling station and we'll get back at it first thing in the morning." She finished looking around the room.

"You can go back to base camp Ms. Woods, we're going to stay here." Max replied with a smirk.

_Yeah like I'm going to leave you lot down here when I'm the only one that knows what is truly going on or rather what's about to happen. _Lex thought as she glared at Max. "You wanted to leave without proper prep we did. You wanted to be the first here we are. You've claimed the find, it's yours. Now we move as a team and we're done for today." She said curtly before everyone turned to Weyland to see if he would agree with her or overrule her decision.

Weyland looked around the room before he said. "You heard her." And that got everyone moving.

"What should we do about the guns, Mr. Weyland.?" Max asked.

"Take them. We can run further tests on the surface." He responded as he got up.

"No… don't touch them!" Sebastian shouted as he threw his hand towards the men that had moved to obey Weyland.

But his warning came too late as Connors had already reached into the sarcophagus and grabbed two of the futuristic weapons, Max then reached in and removed the third, as the last gun was removed a trigger that was hidden underneath was activated with a click, which echoed around the chamber. Everyone looked around concerned, but for a moment nothing happened but then the walls began to move sealing old entrances and revealing new passageways.

"Watch out! The doors!" Sebastian yelled. "Look at!"

Weyland used to be standing in front of a solid wall but it was now a long dark corridor.

"Sebastian." Miller called. "That happens in all pyramids, right?" he asked.

Sebastian looked around the room before he turned to Miller. "No." he replied, then a large block of stone slides down and seals the entrance before anyone could leave the room.

**UUUU**

In the chamber above Rousseau, Thomas and four other scientists brace themselves as the walls began to move, the entrances were sealed by huge blocks of stone that came down from the ceiling.

"Get something under there!" Rousseau yelled at the others, making the scientist push one of the large metal cases under the door but the attempt was futile as the case was crushed.

"You okay?" Thomas asked, as Rousseau looked at the walls that had just stopped moving, they were sealed in like the other team.

**UUUU**

Taro, Range and Scar had reached the pyramid, they stopped at the entrance to check the status of the homing signal and they saw that it had changed.

The three Yautja exchanged worried looks, this was clearly not a part of the plan.

#This Chiva is not going to be a normal one is it?# Range asked Scar, who was the more intelligent one in the group.

#It seems that it won't be and that just makes it harder for us. Let's just hope that no real damage happens before we get marked.# Scar replied.

**UUUU**

Back in the sacrificial chamber Thomas, Rousseau and the scientists were struggling with the stone block that was currently covering the entrance to the room, but the attempts were made in vain.

"The slab's got to weigh two tons. We'll never move it." Rousseau said as she gave up on moving the slab.

Thomas looked around the room, not giving up anytime soon and saw that the bowls that were beneath the mummified corpses had a type of egg in it, the egg appear to fit snugly in the bowls. "What is that?" Thomas asked after the first egg had appeared.

"There. Another. One more." Thomas said as more appeared until all seven slabs had one. There was a long silence before the first egg began to open, then the others opened up just like the first the movement causes Rousseau to pull out her Colt .45 and keep it at her side.

"What did you say this room was called?" Rousseau asked nervously.

"The Sacrificial Chamber." Thomas replied in fright.

Rousseau brings up her handgun but it was too late as the facehugger was already airborne, the other six launch themselves simultaneously, in a split second the facehugger collided with Rousseau's face muffling her scream, the screams of the rest of the team join Rousseau's in echoing through the grate on the floor down into the Sarcophagus Chamber as Lex prepared to lead the team back to the surface.

Lex's head snaps up and looked at the shaft that lead up.

"Lex!" Miller yelled. "What's going on!?" he asked still yelling.

But Lex ignores the question in favor of turning to Max and Sebastian. "Get Rousseau and Thomas." She ordered.

Max and Sebastian each grab their walkie-talkie.

"Rousseau? Come in, Rousseau." Max said whilst Sebastian asked. "Thomas? Tommy. Come in! Tommy. Come in. Thomas can you hear me?" before they both looked up when they got no response. Sebastian just shook his head.

"Nothing." Max said, before fear starts to spread through the rest of the team.

Lex turned to Weyland. "Is there anything that you didn't tell me about this place?" She asked, still hating the fact that she had to hide who she truly was.

"Nothing, I have no idea what this is." Weyland replied, looking at the woman that he would prefer to be his heir as she was the sort of person that wouldn't waste his hard earned money on unimportant things.

"Well whatever it is, we're not prepared for it. We're going to round up the rest of the team and get to the surface." She said even if she knew what was going to happen, she also knew that there was nothing she could do to change the future, and it was true that the future wasn't set in stone but there were parts that were very much set in stone. "Let's move" she said.

Lex looked at the dark corridor behind Weyland, then Max and Connors opened the equipment cases that they were carrying around and pulled out an arsenal of heavy weapons, they were joined by three others Bass, Stone and Verheiden.

"What are you doing?" Lex asked them when she saw the guns.

"My job." Max replied. "Yours is over." He continued as he slammed a magazine in to his MP-5, then he locks and loads the weapon in a quick and precise movement.

Oh how she wished she could tell him that the gun wouldn't do any good. "I told you. When I lead a team, I don't leave my team. My jobs over when everyone is back on the boat safely and that gun doesn't change anything." She said with a bit of a hiss.

"Mr. Weyland?" Max asked after looking at the man.

Weyland looked between Max and Lex before he sighed tiredly. "She brought us here, she's getting us home. You and your crew back her up." He said as he moved to Lex's side.

Max nods showing that he would follow orders, around the room the sound of machine gins being loaded and cocked echo throughout the room and down the corridor.

"After you." Max said looking at Lex.

Lex looked at her digital wrist compass. "This bearing should take us back to the entrance. We make it to the surface and we regroup at the Whaling station." She said absentmindedly.

"What about Thomas and Rousseau?" Sebastian asked stepping up to Lex's side.

"We'll find them on the way out." She replied looking at the Mexican Professor, before leading the team out of the room.

"Stone, Verheiden cover our backs!" Max ordered.

**UUUU**

**Translation:**

Dah'kte = wrist blades (Yautja language)


	8. Chapter VII

**Chapter VII**

"_We'll find them on the way out." She replied looking at the Mexican Professor, before leading the team out of the room._

"_Stone, Verheiden cover our backs!" Max ordered._

Back in the Sacrificial Chamber one of the facehuggers have fallen of its victim, it task complete.

Rousseau's eyes snapped open, all she could feel was pain as she slowly sat up, she then brought her hand to her chest ad massaged the area that the pain was coming from. She took a moment to look around and saw that her six companions were lying on the floor and each one had a green spiderlike creature on their faces.

A wave of pure agony washed through her from her chest, seconds later she heard the tell tale sound of bones starting to break, Rousseau screams as a young Kiande Amedha breaks through her bones, muscle and skin. She dies once the young alien broke through.

Minutes after Weyland and his team had left the Sarcophagus Chamber, a Predator de-cloaks. It's Taro he stared down into the sarcophagus and saw that it was empty, he growled in frustration

#The Ooman's have taken the Sivk'va-tai.# Taro said over the communications line that the Elders had allowed them to have, Range growled in response to what Taro had reported.

#Calm down chiva mei'hswei, they probably took them in ignorance of what they are and what they mean.# Scar, ever the logical one, intervened.

#Scar we need the sivk'va-tai to complete the Chiva!# Taro argued. #I will not allow them to get away with this theft!# he continued with a growl.

#And what if it's the only female in the group that is the one that carries them?# Scar questioned. #Will you go against the code and kill her to retrieve the sivk'va-tai?# He continued on.

Taro paused frowning as he turned and faced the corridor that the Ooman's went down, and changed through the various types of vision as fast as his sight would allow. #By what my mask is showing me there is no trace of a female Ooman with this group.# Taro responded.

Silence was what greeted his response.

#But the visual on the Ship showed that there were two Ooman females, one died hosting a Kiande Amedha, and the other is still alive.# Scar said as he stopped next to his trial brother.

Taro glanced at the smaller but much more intelligent Yautja beside him. #Could there be a possibility, no matter how small said possibility is, that the female Ooman has found a way around the visual spectrums that our mask allows us to see?# Range suggested from behind them, startling both of the other Yautja's.

#That is a small possibility but a possibility all the same.# Scar said slowly. #Let's assume that her talents, whether they be technological or physical, only offer her a defence basis, as in they only a port to her defence.# Scar said after a moment of watching the footsteps on the stone floor. The other two nodded in agreement as the assumption that their trial brother had made was a logical one.

**UUUU**

Lex and the team kept moving through the pyramid, her flashlight then illuminated a giant statue as the beam of said flashlight illuminated the walls of the corridor it became clear that the passageway was lined with statues, the statues depicted a humanoid shape much larger than any human, their face's were covered by a mask each and every one of them looked ready for battle as they had armour instead of clothes, they also had weapons decorating their waist, with a gun like weapon attached to their shoulder. They looked intimidating and very powerful.

"Dear God." Sebastian muttered when he saw the statues, many of the statues were engaged in combat with another species, a species that Lex knew to be called the Kiande Amedha. The way the statues portrayed it was as if they were George fighting a Dragon. Max studied one of the statues and saw the weapon on the statues shoulder.

Lex walked up behind him silently. "Recognize what's on their shoulders?" she asked.

"We worshiped these things?" Max asked interrupted Sebastian who had been examining a mural that showed a human on its knees in supplication before a Predator.

"According to this we did. And the artefacts that you removed from the sarcophagus seem to be their weapons." Sebastian replied a little bit derisively.

Range looked down at the Oomans and saw that Scar had been correct there were two Ooman females at the beginning, but now there was only one. He cycled through all of the visual spectrums that his mask allowed him to, all the while praying to Paya, Cetanu and any other god that he knew of that the female wasn't carrying one of sivk'va-tai, so that he wouldn't have to go against the code.

Range breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that two of the males were carrying the sivk'va-tai. #Two male Oomans are the ones that carry the sivk'va-tai.# Range said, not caring that that the relief could be head in his voice. #And Scar you were right, but what is curious is the fact that the Ooman female registers with a heat signature but she doesn't leave a heat trace.# he continued as he zoomed in on the sivk'va-tai to check for damage.

"The heat bloom that your satellite detected makes more sense now." Miller said to Weyland.

"What do you mean?" Weyland asked the chemical engineer.

"A building this sophisticated would require a major energy source. That's what your satellite detected, the power plant for the Pyramid firing up... preparing." Miller explained.

"Preparing for what?" Weyland enquired.

Lex consulted her digital compass. "Let's get moving. Just another 200 yards to the entrance." She called out gaining many sighs of relief, but she was tense she knew that this was an ambush and she couldn't do a thing about it.

Behind the team Stone was bringing up the rear, he doesn't see the noose that has dropped from the ceiling and around his neck before it tightened, it dragged him into the air as he silently died.

Range watched as Taro killed the Ooman that was at the very back of the group with a sigh, all he wanted to do was kill a couple of Kiande Amedha, get marked and then get off of this planet. He approached the other Ooman that was at the back of the group and impaled him on his ki'cti-pa, the force of the strike sent the Ooman flying into the stone wall which alerted the other Ooman's too the attack.

"Get down!" Max yelled as he grabbed Weyland.

"What the Hell was that?" Connors called as he crouched down by a pillar.

Lex saw a chakt-ra flying towards Sebastian "Down!" she yelled as she tackled him to ground the disk passed harmlessly over them before it cut through the statue that Sebastian had been standing in front off like it was paper. The head of the statue came crashing down to the ground, it had been neatly decapitated.

Taro roared in frustration, at the fact that the male Ooman had avoided the chakt-ra with the help of the Ooman female.

Max and Verheiden were firing the guns that they carried, before the pyramid began to shift again.

"The Pyramid!" Weyland called. "It's shifting again!"

"The doors are closing!" Lex yelled when she saw the door ways were closing.

"Let's get out of here!" Sebastian yelled as he grabbed Lex, who the grabbed Weyland and pulled them through a door way before it closed, Max had followed his employer when he began moving.

Range glanced around the reconfigured pyramid, he was trapped in a small room with Taro who was muttering darkly under his breath; he glanced around one more time before he settled down against the wall to patiently await the opening of a passage out of this room so he could get as far away from Taro as he possibly could.

Taro growled for the umpteenth time causing Range to sigh inaudibly it was going to be a long wait.

**UUUU**

Verheiden, Miller and Connors looked around the room that they were trapped in, all three of them knew that they were safe from the Predator for the moment, but they weren't sure how long that that would last.

"What are those things?" Verheiden asked his companions who shook their heads. "Did you see what they did to Bass and Stone?" he asked again. "I hit that son of a bitch, dead on as well. He didn't stop or even flinch." Verheiden paused. "Hell he didn't even slow down!"

"Hey! Verheiden." Miller called out.

"What?" Verheiden said as he spun to face the chemical engineer.

"I'm no soldier, but... I think you should calm down." Miller said before continuing after a moment. "Were not dead yet." Connors voiced his agreement.

"Thanks, Professor." Verheiden said after he had calmed down.

"Actually it's Doctor." Miller corrected. "But you're welcome." He continued.

**UUUU**

Max, Weyland, Lex and Sebastian were trapped in their own room this one was larger than the Yautja's one. As one Max and Sebastian eased Bass' body to the floor, making his back pack fall to the floor Weyland moved and picked it up.

"No damage." He said relieved, when he saw that the Predator gun was unharmed.

Max glared at his boss over Bass' body, his ice cold veneer and ferocious loyalty was starting to crack. "One of our men is dead." Max stated.

"I'm sorry Max." Weyland apologised, and Lex could feel that he did regret the man's death but he didn't know how to express his regret.

"I need to know what he died for." Max said after a moment of silence.

"He died making history." Weyland stated.

"Whose?" Max asked. "Yours?" he added after a while.

Lex and Sebastian could see that the relationship that these two men had had was holding on by shreds, they exchanged concerned looks.

**UUUU**

Miller and Connors watched as Verheiden paced the room making it seem even smaller.

"We're never going to get out of this place." Verheiden said suddenly as he paced.

"Don't say that." Miller retorted.

"Whatever you believe in, you should start praying to it Dr." Verheiden continued not listening to the scientist.

Connors just sighed as he watched his friend and the scientist, he didn't know if they were ever going to get out of this place, but he hoped that they did as he didn't want to die in a pyramid that was 10.000 years old and was apparently built by sadistic ancestors of theirs that worshiped an equally sadistic race as gods.

Miller watched Verheiden for a moment longer before he tried to calm the tense soldier. "Hey." Miller called to get the pacing soldiers attention. "Do you have children?" he asked once he was sure he had the soldier's attention.

"A son." Verheiden answered, not entirely sure of the relevance that his son had to the situation.

"I have two." Miller replied. "You know what that means?" Miller asked and continued when he got a negative head shake. "We don't have the luxury of quitting; we're going to make it out of here. You hear me? We're going to survive this even if I have to drag you the whole way." Miller said fiercely.

Verheiden and Connors looked at the scientist and saw that he had become a leader, as Connors too had a child he was going to help these two reach the surface alive.

"Hey." Connors said. "If I don't make it I want you to help my kid out, I'd do the same for the both of you, if you don't make it out." He asked. Both Miller and Verheiden nodded, agreeing with what Connors had said.

"Well since the guns don't work we'll have to do it old school." Connors continued as he dropped the gun to the floor and moved to the wall and detached the spear that a statue was holding. Verheiden followed his comrade's lead and dropped the gun.

"Miller. Grab a weapon." Verheiden ordered.

"Why?" Miller asked confused.

"To defend yourself with, we won't be around forever." Connors said. "Besides we all need to have an equal chance of reaching the surface and doing what we promised." He continued, at that Miller nodded and grabbed one of the two remaining spears.

At that moment an accord had been reached, and the Ancient Greek rule of three was alive once more.

**UUUU**

**Translation:**

Mei'hswei = Brother

Chiva = Trial

Sivk'va-tai = Plasma caster

Cetanu = God of death (Yautja)

Paya = God/ Conquering warrior


	9. Chapter VIII

**Chapter VIII**

_At that moment an accord had been reached, and the Ancient Greek rule of three was alive once more._

"There's no way out back there." Lex reported once she had returned to the room that Sebastian, Weyland, Max and she were trapped in. Lex then moved over to sit with Sebastian; she saw that he was turning the Pepsi bottle cap over and over in his hand in a nervous manner,

"Careful..." Lex teased with a smile.

"What?" Sebastian asked.

"That's a valuable archaeological find." She answered gesturing to the bottle cap, earning a smile from Sebastian.

An alarm from Sebastian's watch goes off at that precise moment, making everyone in the room jump.

"What's that?" Lex asked, before checking the future and saw what it meant, she cursed herself for not remembering.

"Just a theory." Sebastian replied as he silenced the alarm, after he spoke a sound like rolling thunder sounded in the distance as it came closer they were able to tell that it was the sound of stone scrapping against stone. "The Aztec calendar was metric, based on multiples of ten. I'm guessing that the pyramid re-configures every ten minutes." He continued.

Max and Weyland stand up as a stone slab rose into the roof, revealing a new exit from the stone cell that they had been trapped in, all of them knew that a labyrinth of passageways awaited them beyond the exit. They all exchange looks, sharing the same concern of not knowing what awaited them outside of the nice and safe room, before they move out of the room one by one.

**UUUU**

Miller, Verheiden and Connors stand up from the floor what the bottom half of a statue moved back to reveal a crawl space.

"Whose wants to go first?" Miller asked as he looked between Connors and Verheiden, the other men look at each other then at Miller before glancing back at each other again.

"How about we set a goal?" Connors suggested.

"Very well, the goal is to get back to the Piper Maru come up with a convincing lie about why only the three of us survived and about what happened." Verheiden said, Miller and Connors nodded in agreement of that goal, before Connors moved forward and took point, Verheiden grabbed Miller and made him take the middle as he himself brought up the rear.

**UUUU**

Max, Weyland, Sebastian and Lex made their way through the underground passageways, Max was at the front with his MP-5 machine gun.

Lex looked down and checked her digital compass again all the while comparing the reading she saw to the ones in the vision. "If we can stay on this bearing, we should keep going up. If we can do that we'll make it to the entrance." She said.

Lex looked at the men that were with her, Max and Sebastian were doing alright both keeping up the pace that she had set, but Weyland on the other hand was struggling to keep up he then buckled under the weight of the backpack that he was carrying, it was the one that contained the Yautja weapon.

"Leave it. It can only slow us down." She said to Weyland after he had caught up to her.

"Too much has been lost to walk away with nothing." Weyland replied.

Lex sighed once she saw and felt that there was no way that she could convince him otherwise. "Give it to me." She said before Weyland and she traded backpacks.

A couple of minutes pass before up ahead Max signaled the group to stop, he aimed his flashlight so that it would illuminate the darkness, just as a Predator appears from said darkness, Max tried to fire but it was too late as the Predator had already fired something. Then a net appears in mid air, the net knocks Max of his feet and against the wall.

Max screamed as the net constricted around him, it cuts into his clothing and equipment like it was paper, Weyland tried to help his friend but only cuts his hand in the process, the mesh was razor sharp. Sebastian then tried to cut the net with a knife that he had stashed in his boot but it just snapped as if the substance that the net was made of was stronger than the metal of the knife.

"Look out!" Max yelled, Lex turned and saw the second Yautja appear out of thin air, she scowled before she moved faster than the Yautja could comprehend and pushed him away from the group of full humans. She then turned and saw that another Yautja had already impaled Max, it was turning to Weyland and Sebastian ready to give them the same treatment that Max had received.

"MOVE!" she shouted as she shoot across the distance that separated her and the Yautja, not noticing that the one that she had pushed was back on his feet and watching her as she practically flew across the room.

Range watched as the female Ooman ran across the distance separating her from Taro, at a great speed not stopping to yell whatever she had yelled at the other Ooman's, the female then threw an object at the youngest Ooman male before both males turned and ran obviously obeying the female of their race. _Were the females the power of the race now?_ Range thought.

Lex leaped into the air moments before she collided with the Yautja bringing him temporarily to the floor, and diverting his attention from Sebastian and Weyland, now that she was alone with only enemies she didn't have to hold back.

She moved a bit away and dropped into her fully feral crouch allowing her instincts out of the cage that she had placed them in, her eyes changed from a dark chocolate brown to a pure and bright amber that shone in the dark flecked with her human eye color, her illusion fell revealing a tail that was longer than it was supposed to be it was white with black stripes on it in intervals, a trail of scales had appeared on her face and lead down her neck and disappeared under her t-shirt.

She let everything that she hid around the normal humans out in this fight she wasn't going to hold anything back, her enemy would fall, and fall hard before she even considered giving into deaths sweet embrace. She growled at the Yautja that had killed one of her temporary pride.

Taro stared at the female Ooman that had attacked him without warning, he was startled when she growled at him, her growl sounded animalistic and dangerous. He glanced at Range and saw that his companion would not help him, so he crouched and leaped at the Ooman confidant that the fight wouldn't last long, as she probably wasn't thinking coherently.

Lex smirked darkly when the Yautja leaped at her, she used her gift and found out that he was overconfident, she would enjoy making him regret feeling confident. She dodged to the side evading whatever attack that he had been planning as she dodged she made a connection with another of her gifts, the one that allowed her to see that future. She didn't care that she had an unfair advantage the Yautja had made things personal.

Taro was genuinely surprised when the female Ooman dodged his attack, but then he turned and saw the glint that her eyes possessed, he now knew that this was a fight to the death.

Lex moved fast, knowing that she had stunned him for a moment with what her eyes said, she withdrew a dagger from her sleeve as she charged at her opponent, she saw that he bought his arm up in a defensive position but she ducks and spun around and under his guard and slashed at his unprotected back, breaking the mesh that he wore and also making a slash appear on his skin.

She slide to a stop a few meters away she spun around to take in the reaction of her enemy and saw that he was not happy.

Taro turned rapidly after he had gotten over the shock that an Ooman and a female at that had injured him, he then withdrew his hip dagger and launched himself at her again. Lex saw what the Yautja was about to do and slid under him before she jumped up, spun and threw herself at him whilst also raising her dagger, the Yautja turned just in time to block her dagger with his own.

Both stared at the other trying to push the other back in the end Lex slipped her foot back ducked her head below her dagger and made the Yautja overbalance, she then moved to the side allowing he opponent to stumble forward after she had removed her dagger from the stalemate.

Taro stumbled forward and growled once he had his balance back, he noticed that he was standing in front of a hole in the ground he knew that if the Ooman female tackled him they would both fall in.

Lex noticed the exact same thing the Yautja had, she braced her feet on the floor and ran at her opponent whilst his back was turned, he turned around just in time to see her launch herself into the air and tackle him into the hole behind him, moments later the Yautja collided with the ground Lex was still on top of him making the Predator take the brunt of the impact.

Range watched as the fight progressed, he was stunned at the prowess that the Ooman displayed it was as if she had been fighting for her life since she had learned the basics, he had been surprised when the female had pulled a moderate sized dagger from her sleeve. He winced when he heard both his companion and the Ooman female collided with the pile of bones. He really didn't regret not getting involved in the fight.

Lex was up and a few feet from the Yautja after a moment, which she used to gather her wits and some energy. She observed her enemy as he slowly hauled himself up off of the ground, she sank back into her crouch she knew the Yautja thought that she didn't have a coherent thought at the moment and she was more than happy to use that against him.

Once Taro was back on his feet he crouched and faced the Ooman female that had managed to knock him of his feet more times than any other Yautja of his age and for that he respected her.

Range snuck into the room that the hole in the ground lead to he really wanted to see how this fight ended, even if it ended with his comrade dying. He watched as the two opponents circle each other warily.

Lex and Taro clashed for the umpteenth time, both tried to get a hit on the other but failing as both were just too good a warrior to let that happen. Lex drew another dagger from her sleeve and started to duck and dodge any attack that the Yautja executed, she was waiting for an opening in his guard.

Finally she saw an opening minutes after they had clashed, during those minutes the pyramid had reconfigured again but she was confident that she would be able to find Sebastian and Weyland again once this fight was over, she took her chance and darted at him bypassing any defence that he tried to build, she lashed out with her daggers once she was close enough, one was embedded in his chest the other made a slash on his arm, she quickly moved away as her opponent froze.

Taro froze when he felt the pain of a dagger being embedded in his chest and a slash on his arm being opened, he turned around and saw that the very Ooman that had caused him a bit of pain was already out of striking distance but he attacked using the chakt-ra.

Lex dodged the shuriken that the Yautja had thrown in her direction as she threw the last dagger that she had in her hand, she saw in which direction that the Yautja would dodge in so she launched herself to tackle him unawares.

Taro dodged the dagger that the Ooman had thrown and was then surprised when the Ooman tackled him to the ground, this time instead of jumping off of him she pinned him underneath her in a way that gave him no room to move.

Lex purred lightly she was in the control of her instincts now and there would be no denying them until the one that killed a member of her temporary pride was dead.

Ranges eyes widened when the female Ooman pinned Taro down so securely that not even an Elder could get out of, he was surprised even more when the female began purring in a way that suggested that she had already won.

Lex bent so that she was face to face with the Yautja, her right hand slid down to her boot and then she pulled out the dagger that she hid there, she brought it up slowly to savor the fact that she had such a physically powerful being at her mercy, the Yautja was growling not liking the fact that she was taking her sweet time.

Taro growled at the female Ooman wishing that she would hurry up and kill him or that Range would intervene. He glanced down to see where her hand had gone and saw that she had withdrew another dagger but this one from her boot. Once she had brought the dagger up she didn't kill him immediately, instead she changed the dagger from her right hand to her left.

Once she had changed which side the other dagger was on she reached out with her right hand making the move look seductive, her hand closed around the hilt of the dagger that was in his chest, she knew how much pain that this was going to cause the Yautja and she believed that he deserved every drop.

She gave the fallen Yautja a seductive smile and looked at him from under her lashes; she pressed a small button that was on the hilt of the dagger, the button was a trigger that released a poison that she had created herself. She had tested it on Yautja blood and knew that it was effective, and then once she was sure that the poison had reached the wound she twisted that dagger making the Yautja under her to roar out in pure agony.

She kept up the torture for a couple of minutes longer before she raised the dagger in her left hand and released the same poison as before and slashed at his throat making sure to cut as deeply as possible.


	10. Chapter IX

**Chapter IX**

_She kept up the torture for a couple of minutes longer before she raised the dagger in her left hand and released the same poison as before and slashed at his throat making sure to cut as deeply as possible. _

Once her enemy was dead her logical side returned and pushed the instincts away. Lex jumped to her feet and crouched down facing the other Yautja for a moment, before she moved and collected her dagger from the chest of his comrade. She kept him in her line of sight at all time, every movement that he made she shifted, never allowing him to get behind her.

Range had watched as the female Ooman had tortured Taro, he had seen the satisfaction at Taro roaring his pain for all to hear cross her face, he didn't know how the Ooman could dish out such torture unless, of course she had been tortured in such a manner.

"Your companion was weak." Lex said after a while of watching the other Yautja. "I could take that level of pain when I was six." She continued before she turned and used one of the pillars as a spring board up to the room above, once there she collected her other dagger and left to track down Sebastian and Weyland.

Range looked at where the Ooman female used to stand for a moment.

#Scar.# he called through the communications line.

#Yes Range.# Scar replied.

#Since you have studied the Ooman's most used language would you mind translating something for me?# Range asked as he selected the audio that he copied and sent to his friend, minutes passed as Scar listened to it a couple of times to be sure that he translated it right.

#It seem that she was saying 'Your companion was weak. I could take that level of pain when I was six.'# Scar translated.

#So does that mean that she underwent training of a higher level than us Yautja have to deal with, or does it simply mean she has some fighting prowess and was primarily trained to ignore pain?# Range asked as he stared at the hole in the ceiling.

#I do not know mei'hswei. I do not know.# Scar replied.

Lex ran through the corridors of the pyramid following her visions to find Weyland and Sebastian, it took her two reconfiguration's of the pyramid before she found them climbing a stair case.

"What was that thing?" Sebastian asked once Lex had caught up with him and Weyland.

Lex looked at him for a moment as she moved forward, then she grabbed Weyland's other side. "I know what they are but you'll call me crazy and not believe me." She replied.

"I have to stop!" Weyland interrupted them as he fell to his knees half way up the stair.

"Take it easy." Lex said as she helped the man sit down, she saw that he wasn't listening as he was panicking. "Look at me..." she continued as she grabbed Weyland's head in her hands. "You've taken too much air into your lungs. They're starting to freeze." She said in a soothing voice, not breaking eye contact. "You have to control your breathing. Slow steady breaths. Slow... steady... that's it." She said once Weyland's breathing had calmed down a bit.

"I'm okay... I'm okay." Weyland said after a minute.

"Come on." Lex said as she started to haul the man to his feet.

"No, I can't." Weyland denied. "It's hard enough to stand." He continued as he slumps against that wall.

"Weyland..." Lex trailed off.

"Don't..." Weyland interrupted her.

"I'm not letting you die down here." Lex said firmly.

"You didn't Lex." Weyland rebuked. "Go. I'll buy you whatever time I can." He continued, before a Yautja appeared in the doorway that they had gone through minutes before, Weyland saw this and grabbed the ice axe that he carried and made his way down the stairs ready to buy the others as much time as he could.

"There's another one!" Sebastian called out. "We have to go! Now!" Sebastian yelled.

"Go!" Weyland yelled back at the two behind him. Sebastian obeys and grabbed Lex who looked like she was ready to stay back and fight the Predator. Lex glanced back at Weyland, the look on his face was of someone that would sacrifice their life for another. "Run!" Weyland encouraged them.

Scar faced the old Ooman, who drew himself up to his full height, as the Ooman swung at him he was able to see the female Ooman and another male Ooman make their way up the stairs, he felt a rush of jealousy at the fact that the male Ooman had his arm around his female counterpart.

Scar wrapped his hand around the Ooman's neck after he had batted the feeble swing away, he lifted him up and scanned his body; the Bio-mask picked up that the Ooman was sick, his body was riddled with disease. Scar shook his head, this was not an honorable kill so he dropped the Ooman and walked up the stairs, ready to hunt the other Ooman's down.

"Don't turn your back on me you son of a bitch!" Weyland said fiercely, he wouldn't make it easy on the hunter to go after Lex, she had been one of the only ones that had cared about his health and he was going to repay that kindness with giving her a chance to live.

Scar ignored what the Ooman male behind him had said. Weyland saw that the hunter wasn't listening, so he pulled his oxygen tank and a flare out of his jacket, he lit the flare by striking it against the ground where he was kneeling.

"If I can't get your attention with words then I'm sure I can get it through actions." Weyland said, before he put the flare in front of the tank and opened the valve, a jet of flames was the result of the mixture, and it engulfed the hunter, Weyland felt some satisfaction that he had managed to get his attention.

Scar spun around when the Ooman had attacked him with a jet of flames, for the creativity Scar had to admit that the Ooman would have made a great hunter, but that didn't change the fact that the Ooman had attacked him. Scar withdrew his spear from its sheath and approached the old Ooman, once Scar was standing in front of the one that had attacked him he thrust his ki'cti-pa forward impaling the Ooman. After Weyland had died Scar roared out his triumph, before he turned and made his way up the stairs to follow the other two Ooman's.

Lex and Sebastian had just left the maze of a labyrinth when they heard the Predator roar out his victory. Lex paused and looked behind her wondering how long it would be before they had to run from the very same Yautja that had just killed Weyland.

"Weyland!" She called once she had realized what she had thought.

"You can't help him." Sebastian said before he dragged her away. "We have to go." He continued and that seemed to unfreeze the female, as she turned around and followed her companion.

They ran into a big chamber that was lined with pillars and statues, it was dark inside the chamber, but that didn't hinder Lex at all thanks to her night vision given to her by her feline side.

Lex looked at her wrist compass. "We keep moving and stay on this heading. We keep it together, make it to the surface." She said once she took in the readings.

Range watched as the Ooman's moved through the dark chamber, he zoomed in on the Sivk'va-tai that was on her back. He cursed, he didn't want to go against the code and have his honor stripped from him but he and Scar really needed that weapon if they wanted to stand even a remote chance of getting out of the chiva alive.

#Scar, we have a slight problem.# Range said over the communication line.

#What problem? Other than being constantly evaded by two Ooman's, of course.# Scar asked as he ran to catch up to the Ooman's.

#The female Ooman is now the one that carries the sivk'va-tai.# Range replied and was rewarded with the sound of Scar cursing.

Lex and Sebastian were startled when the alarm sounded. Both looked at each other. "Shit." They said in sync.

"It's moving!" Sebastian yelled as the pyramid began to reconfigure itself.

"State the obvious would you." Lex retorted as they began to move.

"Through here!" Sebastian called as he led the way to a stone slab that rose from the ground to seal the exit. "Hurry!" he urged, as he helped Lex through the doorway, he then jumped and hauled himself over the edge and scrambled through the ever smaller gap between the floor and the ceiling, he slips over the edge and onto the floor next to Lex moments before he would have been crushed.

They relaxed thinking that they were safe when a chakt-ra suddenly flew between their faces and embedded into the wall behind them, sending bits of stone flying and dust to fall.

Scar appeared in front of the stone slab that blocked him from the Ooman's, he growls in frustration he knew that his father was watching the live footage of his hunt and he was probably laughing at the fact that a couple of Ooman's were out witting a Yautja.

Scar turned and saw that there was a Kiande Amedha facehugger, it launched itself at him but he just cut in half using one of his chakt-ra, he rolled his eyes; when was he going to find a fully grown Kiande Amedha?

That question was soon answered when he sensed that one was right behind him. He spun after he caught the chakt-ra and cuts the lower half of the Kiande Amedha's face off, the part that he had cut off fell to the floor then the body fell. He turned and saw the size of his kill, he knelt down and removed his mask, then he cut off one of the Kiande Amedha's talons and wrote the symbol of a Blooded Warrior onto his mask then he raised the talon and marked himself.

Lex watched as the warrior killed the facehugger, then the fully grown Serpent; she admired his skills and he made her wish that his race accepted Ooman's as equals so that she could claim him for her own, he had proved his worth and she knew that in the future he would be a great warrior.

Once Scar finished the marking ceremony he reattached his mask, it alerted him to the fact that there was another facehugger above him, he spun and unsheathed his dah'kte and sliced it in two like the first one that had tried to impregnate him.

"He's 'blooding' himself." Sebastian said as he watched the scene standing next to Lex.

She turned to the Mexican next to her with a frown. "What?" she hadn't heard him as she had been lost in wistful thoughts.

"Ancient tribal warriors would mark themselves with the blood of their kill. It's a rite of passage, a sign that they have become a man." Sebastian explained before they jumped down from the perch that they had stood on to see through the peephole.

"This is starting to make sense." Sebastian continued as he examined the hieroglyphics on the floor and ceiling.

**UUUU**

Miller, Verheiden and Connors were close to the entrance, only needing to transverse a couple more corridors and they would be free, they hadn't encountered anything dangerous yet and that made them thank their lucky stars.

"I don't feel right not going back to see if we can find the others." Miller said quietly.

"I don't either but we aren't even sure if we can go up against whatever those things were, it's better to get to the surface and regroup at the Piper Maru." Verheiden whispers.

"Besides Lex told us that the priority right now was to get to the surface and the Piper Maru, we're just following her orders." Connors said just as quietly as the other two. "Lex will be hailed a hero for saving the three of us, because she ordered us to get to the Piper Maru and not look back, we just have to say that she stayed with Weyland because of his health and because she was a kind woman she wanted to help him make it back but the pyramid collapsed killing all of the others." He continued.

Miller and Verheiden paused and looked at Connors; they were surprised that he came up with a believable story so quickly.

Up a head Connors paused when he heard that he wasn't being followed, he turned and looked at them. "What?" he asked.

Miller shook his head. "I wish that I had known you when I was a teenager." He muttered. "Would have saved me a lot of trouble." He continued as he caught up with the man.

"Me too Miller, me too." Verheiden said as he followed the scientist. "We'll continue walking Connors, we aren't any safer and we aren't getting any younger." He continued.

Connors was jolted out of his surprise by what Verheiden had said at the end, making him turn around and start the trek up again.


	11. Chapter X

**Chapter X**

_Connors was jolted out of his surprise by what Verheiden had said at the end, making him turn around and start the trek up again._

Sebastian examined the hieroglyphics that were carved onto the floor and the walls.

"I think this is a manhood ritual of some kind, the humanoid ones, they've been sent here to prove that they are worthy to become adults." Sebastian said as he stares at the wall.

"You're saying that they're what... teenagers?" Lex asked, her visions hadn't allowed her to know this piece of information.

"Who knows how long these creatures live, perhaps for thousands of years. However old they are, this is their rite of passage." Sebastian said firmly, sure that he had translated right. "That's why they didn't carry those guns with them to begin with, they had to earn them. Like a knight earning his spurs, the glyph's are a little difficult to make out but the story's all here." He continued.

_A Yautja spacecraft approached the blue and green backwater planet, all those inside looked at that planet in anticipation. Finally there were new hunting grounds._

"Thousands of years ago these hunters found a back water planet." Sebastian said, as he moved along the wall.

_A bright light illuminated the night, chasing the darkness away and replacing it with the light of day, primitive men and woman exited the caves that they used for shelter from the elements, to stare at the sky in a mixture of fear and amazement._

"They taught humans how to build and we worshiped them as Gods..." He trailed off.

_Years later we can see four pyramids under construction rising out of the ground to tower above the inhabitants that worked on them, above each pyramid a Yautja spacecraft hovered, the image is a sight to behold._

_A Tribal Chief ascends the stairs to prostrate himself before the Yautja that stood on top of the pyramid, hailing them as humanities Gods. _

"Every hundred years the Gods would return. And when they did they would expect a sacrifice..." Sebastian said after he had crouched down to understand the glyph's on the floor better.

_A set of Tribal Priests looked over the men and women, choosing the ones that were to be sacrificed to the Gods, once chosen the victims were lead to the Sacrificial chamber where a Kiande Amedha egg awaits at the bottom of each sacrificial slab, the eggs open once the chosen ones have laid down on the slabs. _

"Humans were used to breed the ultimate prey."

_We watch as one of the victims convulses on the stone slab, the skin on his chest starches as something begins to push its way out._

"The Hunter's would battle these Great Serpents..."

_A Yautja stood on top of one of the pyramids as he thrusts the skull of a dead Kiande Amedha above him showing that he had proven his worth. A Yautja spacecraft descends from the storm clouds that cover the sky above._

"To prove themselves worthy to return home to the stars."

_Next we watch as three Yautja stand back-to-back in a defensive position, they were surrounded on all sides by thousands of Kiande Amedha, as we back away we see that there are thousands more climbing the pyramid all are ready to take on the ones that had enslaved their kind. _

"But if the Hunter's lost..." Sebastian paused. "They made sure that nothing survived. Total genocide." He continued after a while.

_Before the Yautja were overwhelmed by the Kiande Amedha one of them activated the self-destruct mechanism that they had embedded in their wrist computers, a powerful shock wave sweeps across the pyramid vaporizing everything in its path, the shock wave scatters the Kiande Amedha, blowing them limb from limb. _

_A searing white light is all that covers the land that night. _

"An entire civilization wiped out overnight." He said lowly, before he looked up at Lex.

"So the humanoids they bought those creatures here to hunt?" Lex asked, she didn't pay that much attention to the past only the future, as the past wouldn't tell her if she was about to be found by the Cyrel Institute.

"And they use us like cattle. We're hosts for them to breed in." Sebastian replied as he looked at the hieroglyphics again.

"So we didn't discover them." Lex finally concluded.

"No, the heat bloom was designed to lure us down here. This whole thing was a trap, without us there could be no hunt." Sebastian said.

Connors, Miller and Verheiden had reached an entrance into the pyramid, they looked around making sure that there was nothing out of the ordinary.

"Well this is a relief." Miller muttered.

"What's a relief?" Verheiden asked as he turned to the scientist.

"It's a relief to be out of a dark pyramid that may or may not be hiding some hidden danger." Miller replied, Verheiden and Connors nod in agreement.

"Let's get to the Piper Maru." Connors said as he glanced around nervously. "I want to be as far away from this place as possible." He continued.

The other two agreed with Connors on that so they began moving again, this time towards a perfectly human sized tunnel that was slightly to the left of the entrance that they had exited the pyramid form.

Lex moved back to the spy-hole that was in the wall and looked through to the Chamber of Pillars as she had taken to calling it, she looked around but couldn't see the Yautja that had been following them before the pyramid had shifted not moments ago.

Suddenly the Yautja was in front of the peephole, making her back a way imperceptibly. She watched as he put his mask back on but this time it was adorned with the symbol that signaled he had won a battle with a Kiande Amedha, he wore the inner mouth of his first kill like a necklace. The Yautja then turned and faced the stone slab that separated him from the two Ooman's.

"He's right behind that rock." Lex said as she gestured to the stone slab. "Waiting for the door to open" she continued.

"I think when we took the guns we upset the order of how things work down here. We tipped the scales." Sebastian thought out loud.

"He needs his gun back." Lex said understanding that they had to right the wrong that the others had unknowingly committed.

Sebastian snorts before he pointed to the stone wall. "When that door opens, we're dead." He said in a matter of fact manner.

"Not if we set things right." Lex denied.

"What?" Sebastian asked not getting what Lex was trying to say without words.

"This pyramid is like a prison." Lex said after a while. "We took the guard's guns and now the prisoners are running free. To restore order, the guards need their guns." Lex reasoned, with a little help from the future and the past.

Sebastian looked at Lex like she was crazy, he was more afraid than he used to be. "Don't ever use that metaphor again." He said.

"When that door opens, we're going to give that thing his gun back." Lex said, after choosing to ignore what Sebastian had said.

"Are you crazy?" Sebastian asked with wide eyes. "You want a metaphor?" He asked again after Lex had turned to him. "During a big game hunt, the animals being hunted don't arm the hunters!" he yelled.

"They're not hunting _us_. We're in the middle of a war, it's time to choose a side." Lex replied rolling her eyes, honestly she had been up against worse odds.

"We're on _our_ side." Sebastian rebuked.

Lex sighed before she shook her head. "We have to consider the possibility that we might not make it out of here." She said softly looking at Sebastian, she had already accepted death a long time ago and it didn't bother her that she might die at any moment but she wanted to go down fighting and that was how she was determined to go if she had any say in the matter.

But Sebastian on the other hand he hadn't had to live with the possibility of that second being his last, he hadn't tasted death being so close that he could almost reach out and greet it, heck he had probably only wish for death over the simplest things, whilst her on the other hand had wished that death had come and claimed her since she had been five and had already started the more serious and trying tests that the Cyrel Institute had in store.

"But we have to make sure that those 'Serpents' don't reach the surface, because if they do then everything, everywhere could die." She continued a moment later.

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend." Sebastian said slowly as if he didn't believe a word that he was saying, then the alarm went off, making them spin around and face the stone slab that separated them from the hunter as a the sound of rolling thunder echoed through the whole pyramid.

But when the reconfiguration reaches them, it wasn't the stone slab between them and the hunter that opened it was one that was behind them, it opened to reveal a corridor, to the left there were strobe light lighting the way to the exit whilst to the right the corridor was covered in darkness.

Lex sighed nervously. "Let's go find our friend." She said after Sebastian had taken in the strobe lights, both looked gazes and turned right cautiously making their way down the dark corridor.

**UUUU**

Scar paced the room since he couldn't leave the room to hunt something to distract him as there were no exits out of said room, he could wonder why the sight of that Ooman male with his arm around his female counterparts waist bothered him so much. He continued pacing trying to figure the answer out but it eluded him, he growled lowly in frustration not liking the fact that he didn't have the answer.

Oh how he wished that he could ask his father about this, but he couldn't because those on a chiva weren't allowed to communicate with those that were on the ship.

#Scar.# Range called, Scar acknowledged absentmindedly. #Are you as frustrated with the Ooman's as I am? Because I don't remember our teachers saying anything about Oomans being this tricky to hunt.# Range asked.

Scar paused as he looked around the room for the thousandth time. #Nor do I chiva mei'hswei, maybe they were hunting the wrong Ooman's or at least ones that didn't have the determination that these two do.# he reasoned.

Range laughed nervously. #I just remembered I didn't send you the video of what happened before I sent you the audio for translation.# Range said, Scar was sure that Range would be rubbing the back of his head as he said that.

#Are you going to send me the footage or are you going to taunt me?# Scar asked with a small growl.

#Give me a moment would you? I'm copying it so that I can have a copy.# Range said as he went about copying and sending the footage.

#You do know that our families are watching the live footage of the Chiva, don't you?# Scar asked, with an eye ridge raised even if his friend couldn't see it.

#Yes I do know that, but I think that we should share recordings before we get back onto ship.# Range reasoned. Scar didn't respond as at that precise moment he had received the recording so he lent against the wall and watched it.

Scar watched as the female Ooman tackled Taro after telling the other two Ooman that were there to leave, he watched as they both fought each other and saw that the female was still holding back, it only took Scar a second to comprehend the Taro had done something to anger the female that much. _Maybe she has her own Honor Code?_ Scar thought with a frown.

Scar was glad that Range had followed the fight but made sure to keep his distance, that was a wise move, he watched as the female Ooman straddled Taro to pin him down, making him feel jealous again that she was that close to another male, and then tortured him a bit by using the dagger that was already embedded in his chest before she killed him.

#I don't think that we should do anything to incite her wrath as Taro obviously did.# Scar said after a moment.

#You know I think that there are many a male Yautja that will want to claim her as their mate.# Range said as he too had re-watched the fight.

Scar growled at that after he had turned the communication line off, lost in possessive thoughts about a certain dark skinned Ooman, until the sound of rolling thunder assaulted his hearing.


	12. Chapter XI

**Chapter XI**

_Scar growled at that after he had turned the communication line off, lost in possessive thoughts about a certain dark skinned Ooman, until the sound of rolling thunder assaulted his hearing._

Lex and Sebastian walked through the maze of corridors cautiously, knowing that around any corner there could be a Predator or a Serpent, the moved quickly both were prepared for anything, Sebastian was frightened, but Lex she had a cool head not allowing the fright to take hold taking comfort in the fact that if she were to die it would be on her terms.

"How do you say scared shitless in Italian?" Lex asked quietly, glancing at Sebastian for a moment.

"You know there was a point when I _really_ liked you." He replied just as quietly. "But it's Spaventato a morte." He continued after a while.

Lex spotted a Kiande Amedha in front of them, blocking the corridor. "Sebastian I think we should double back." She said lowly, Sebastian looked to where Lex was and saw why she had suggested that.

"Yeah I think that is a good idea." He said lowly, before both turned and ran the other way, all the while Lex hated herself and the fact that she had to hide just to keep her freedom, she hated the Cyrel Institute more and more as the seconds ticked by.

They reached a chasm that spanned the corridor, it was over 15ft wide; when they saw the chasm they turned back to the corridor and saw the shadow of the Serpent.

"We're gonna have to jump it." Sebastian said, sounding like he wanted to jump the chasm about as much as facing the Serpent. Lex glanced as her companion and nodded, not liking the fact that there was no other way.

Both took a step back to get a running start, they tried to stay side by side but since Sebastian was slightly taller than Lex and she had to hide her capabilities, he landed first where he landed the bricks gave way due to the force of the impact, when Lex lands the floor gives way making her fall into the chasm, Sebastian grabbed her hand.

"Hang on!" he yelled as he pulled trying to get her on to solid ground. "Hang on!" Sebastian yelled again, as he pulled her up.

"It's not like I have anything better to do than hold onto your hand!" Lex replied hotly as she glanced down at the chasm, not even her eyesight could pierce the darkness, the chasm was just that deep, she looked back at Sebastian and saw a Kiande Amedha unfolding itself behind the Mexican, her eyes widen.

Sebastian looked at her when he saw her eyes widen. "What?" he asked before he was pulled upwards, Lex wasn't given enough time to mourn the loss of the Mexican; she had liked him as a brother.

"Sebastian!" she yelled before he disappeared.

When Sebastian disappeared from sight she hauled herself up onto the floor of the corridor and to her feet, she crouched slightly and glanced around, checking to see if there were any more Kiande Amedha that were lurking about, when she was sure that there were none she began to move.

The sound of rolling thunder echoed in the distance, making her run to find a room that she was sure she would be alone in, eventually she found one in which she was trapped, she spread out her empathy checking that there was nothing around her. Once she was sure that she was truly alone she put her bag down and began to rifle through it until she found the box that she always carried with her.

She extracted the box from the bag making sure not to damage the Plasma caster in any way. She set it on the ground and put in the combination that would allow her to get to second set of security, the next step was a fingerprint and blood test after that the box was open, the box was the only entrance to a pocket dimension that she had created to stash her weapons, clothes, and anything else that she wanted or needed.

She reached in and pulled out a black leather like garment, after that she stripped of her clothes until all that was left on her were her panties, she had made the chest piece a bit like a bra. She put on the leather like full body garment, years ago she had stumbled across some Kiande Amedha blood which she studied and incorporated protection from it into her suit.

After she was redressed she pulled out the high heeled boots that she had to go with the suite, once fully covered she reached into the pocket dimension again and started to pull out weapons and place them in their sheaths that were hidden all over her, she looked between the box and the back pack, the box was small enough that it could be confused as a medicine container but the backpack was bulky and wouldn't do anything but hinder her in a fight.

So she unpacked the bag and placed what was inside in the pocket dimension including the Plasma caster. _I really need to go through this box to know what the Hell is in it._ Lex thought as her hand hit yet another object that she had no idea what its purpose was.

After packing her stuff away she activated the suite, making it heat up and return her body temperature back to normal levels, she looked at the holographic computer screen that hovered about an inch above her arm, she then released the scanners. The scanners where tiny flying robots that she had invented when she had been bored out of her mind whilst she was healing from another 'meeting' with Cyrel Institute lackeys, they went through the whole complex and scanned the place that she was in so that she knew the layout.

She activated them once they were set up, some were outside the pyramid whist the others flew around the corridors constantly scanning, doing sweeps to keep track of everything that moved the great thing about them was that they were too small for anything to see, and they had no heat signature so they were invisible to the Yautja, which was a huge bonus, she knew where they were but they had no idea where she was. Just how she liked it.

The whole process took around five minutes, including getting dressed and repacking her pocket dimension box. So she hopped onto a raised piece of stone and started to put up her hair in a bun, so that when she fought it wouldn't go into her face. She sat back and ate an energy bar that was one she had created as the normal ones just didn't have the amount of calories that she needed and drank some water, whilst relaxing a bit and kept an ear out for any Kiande Amedha or Yautja.

She got up just before her wrist computer beeped signalling the end of her five minute break after getting changed; she looked down and reset the alarm making it go off every ten minutes. She looked up at the sound of stone moving and saw that a new passage had opened up. She moved forward silently even if she did wear heels and looked out at the passage to check that there were no enemies to take down.

**UUUU**

Scar moved through the corridors trying to track the female Ooman with little success. It's like she just vanished, he had followed the footsteps of the male but they ended after he had made the leap across the chasm, meaning that he was captured by the Kiande Amedha, the thing that annoyed him was that he couldn't tell if the female had been captured as well.

#Where are you Scar?# Range asked him.

#Why do you want to know?# Scar asked, not answering the question.

#I know that you're trying to track the female Ooman and I want to help you.# Range said. #Heck if only to see how she would fare against a Kiande Amedha!# Range said.

Scar sighed and told Range his location; he only had to wait for three minutes before Range rounded the corner and stopped in front of him. They both nodded at each other in greeting as they looked around the passageway.

#She definitely isn't that way.# Range said as he gestured to the way he had come, Scar looked at the corridor and turned back the way that he had come and saw that there were three possible options, he dismissed the middle one as he had come from that direction, so he studied each of the others.

#I think that we should go right.# Scar said as he turned and started to walk down the chosen passageway, with Range following him.

#I never thought that we would ever be trying to track down an Ooman during our Chiva. Much less that said Ooman has a Sivk'va-tai.# Range said after a while.

#Nor did I Range.# Scar said, Range nodded his agreement.

**UUUU**

Lex stalked down the passageway, trying to stay in the shadows as much as possible. She hadn't encountered a single being and that was fine with froze when she heard a hiss, she looked up to the wall opposite of her and saw a Kiande Amedha trying to sneak up on her. Which it failed in doing, she noted that this one was a fully grown warrior drone, at that she grinned if she killed this Serpent than that meant that she had out done Scar as his first kill had been a lot smaller than this one.

Lex crouched down whilst she withdrew a multiple weapon cylinder from its sheath, for this she had gotten the idea from the movie After Earth years ago when she had first seen it, she extended it into the form of a double ended spear and got into position, the Serpent seemed to have cottoned onto the fact that stealth had failed him, so he hissed louder than he had last time.

A minute of silent stare down later the Kiande Amedha leaped at her intending to pin her as quickly as possible, but she dodged to the right as she moved she brought her spear up and slashed at the thing creating a nice long gash on its hide.

She faced the Serpent with a smirk as it cried out its pain. It leaped at her again this time faster, its blood was dripping from the wound that she had inflicted on it, she slide under it whist she thrust the spear up after retracting one end of it, cutting open its hide enough to allow the Kiande Amedha's internal organs to hang out a bit.

Lex frowned when she noticed that she hadn't done enough damage to kill it, she would have to fix that ASAP. She launched herself onto its back as if the Kiande Amedha was a bull at a rodeo; she rode the Serpent not letting it buck her off no matter how hard it tried.

This was the scene that Scar and Range happened upon, both stared at the Ooman ridding the Kiande Amedha like she had done the act thousands of times before; she moved her body in sync with the movements the body under her made.

#Now that's something that I'm sure the Elders and Ancients have never seen before.# Range said in shook at the sight of an Ooman riding a Kiande Amedha.

Scar made a noise of agreement but he felt the rush of jealousy like the other times before when the female Ooman had been touched by the males of her race. He still didn't know why he felt like he did, even if he knew that Oomans were accepted by Yautja, more times than not it was the male counterpart that was accepted, it was extremely rare that a female Ooman was accepted and could fight like this female could.

But when they were accepted, every single male Yautja that was unmated would try and prove to the female Ooman that they were worthy of her attention, sometimes it ended with all of the males fighting each other and the best fighter was the one that mated with said Ooman.


	13. Chapter XII

**Chapter XII**

_But when they were, every single male Yautja that were unmated would try and prove to the female Ooman that they were worthy of her attention, sometimes it ended with all of the males fighting each other and the best fighter was the one that mated with said Ooman. _

Lex was enjoying riding the Kiande Amedha too much, she felt it's feeling of frustration at not being able to get her off of its back, making her want to laugh in vindictive satisfaction. She wasn't about to let this Serpent get its way and dislodge her from its back. In fact she held onto the spear and moved her body to jump off.

As she jumped she thrust the spear in between its neck and skull killing it instantly, she then used the spear as a spring board since she hadn't changed it after she had cut it open. She spun through the air like a gymnast and landed on her feet facing the body of her newly dead enemy.

Scar and Range glanced at each other, not sure if they should approach her. Heck it was rare to find a female Ooman that could fight, but it was practically impossible to find one that could fight both species at the same time and not end up dead in a matter of minutes.

Lex approached the dead Kiande Amedha and pulled her multiple weapons cylinder out of its neck, she cleaned the blade before she made the other blade appear and cleaned that one as well not wanting it to rust, as this weapon was one of her pride and joys, it had saved her more time than she could count as its unassuming appearance made the scientist allow her to keep it with her.

She knew that there were two very surprised Yautja's behind her contemplating whether they should approach her silently between them. She sighed as she shook her head and removed the box from her back after she had re-sheathed the cylinder, she inputted the combination then did the finger print and blood test to get in, it took her a minute to find the damn weapon that had gotten her into this situation.

Once she had it in her hand she set it behind the box and closed it then re-attached it to her back, she picked up the Plasma Caster and stood up then she turned and faced the Yautja and moved forward.

Scar and Range tensed when they heard the Ooman female sigh, they tensed even more when she stood up and turned revealing that she had the Sivk'va-tai in her hands. The female moved closer to them until she was a few feet from Scar.

"I know that you can understand and speak my language." Lex said to the smaller Yautja. "Forgive my dead companions for taking the Plasma Casters, they took them in ignorance but that doesn't excuse that they took them." She paused so that she could watch their reaction. "Another and I didn't agree with their decision to take them, me because I knew what was going to happen and my companion because he knew that it was a bad idea." She finished.

Scar listened to the female Ooman explain why they had taken the weapons and was relieved when he heard that she and another hadn't wanted to take them but had been out voted by the rest of their group, her voice was pleasant to listen to and it held a hint of a purring growl.

#She and another didn't want to take the sivk'va-tai.# Scar said to Range, translating what the Ooman had said for him; Range nodded showing that he had heard. Scar then turned to the Ooman that held the weapon out to him, he slowly took it.

Lex bowed her head to the two male Yautja that stood in front of her before she edged around them and started to make her way down the corridor, she was stopped by the tallest Yautja, who grabbed her and pinned her arms to the side, turning her to face the Yautja that she had handed the weapon to.

#Come on Scar we can't let her walk away!# Range said. #She's one of the Ooman's that will be accepted by our people!#he continued once he saw that Scar was looking at him.

#Why are you so interested in her?# Scar asked forcing the possessiveness that he felt down at the fact that Range was touching the female Ooman.

Range looked at him like he was an idiot. #Look behind you.# he said and Scar did, when he saw the size of the Xenomorph he scowled as it was bigger than his first kill. #Not only that but she fought a Yautja and won. If that doesn't shout worthy to enter the Clan then I don't know what does.# he said in a deadpanned manner when Scar looked at him.

Scar sighed before he nodded his consent before he turned to the female Ooman that had tensed when Range had grabbed her. In fact she had turned her head and was glaring at the big Yautja with murderous intent.

Lex glared at the big Yautja hoping that he would get the idea and let her go so that she could be on her way to finding Sebastian and getting the hell out of dodge. But it seemed as if he was ignoring her by the fact that he wasn't flinching back, heck he hadn't even looked her way as he was too busy conversing with the other Yautja.

She scowled not liking the fact that she didn't understand a word that they were saying, so she tuned into the big Yautja's thought process to see if she could understand why he had grabbed her. Once she did that she tensed when she knew exactly what they were planning, knowing that she looked into the future hoping that it would be able to give her a way out of being stuck on a spaceship in space, that just so happened to have more males than females on it.

It seemed like Lady Tyche was ignoring her plight and wouldn't lend her a hand as she saw that they would come back for her once they replayed the footage that was made public after every Chiva.

_Fuck! It seems that I can't get out of this unless I die which whilst I don't care if I die, I very much care if my body stays on Earth after I die._ Lex thought glaring at the muscle bound idiot that held her, wishing that he would relax his hold ever so slightly so that she could escape.

Scar watched as the female continued glaring at Range who had noticed and had flinched at the look that he was receiving from the female, but then her eyes widened for a moment before they glazed over completely as if she had retreated into her mind to contemplate what she had discovered.

After a couple of minutes they cleared and she had a resigned air about herself, but she didn't let that distract her from her goal of trying to make Range turn into a quivering mess on the floor whilst he begged for forgiveness for whatever he had done by glaring alone. Scar felt a heavy sense of relief.

Amused at the goal that the female had set herself, yet he was relieved for a reason that escaped him, the feeling made him frown. _Why do I feel relieved? It's not as if I want her to be my mate..._ Scar trailed off.

His father had said that every male Yautja had a six sense when it came to finding a mate, sometimes you had many that caught your eye and other times it lead you to one. But that one might be compatible with several others so it would be no easy feat to impress the one that you were after.

Range looked at Scar then glanced at the female Ooman that he was holding, he knew that Scar wasn't admitting something and he had a feeling that that something had to do with this here female Ooman. He just wished that Scar was capable of taming the wildness that the Ooman displayed, he was sure that the ship wouldn't survive the clash of others trying to tame her before they have proven their worth.

Lex saw that they were at a stalemate, the one in front of her was lost in thought and so was just standing there, the one that had a hold of her had loosed his grip slightly but not enough for her to escape, the only thing that seemed to be relatively mutual was the fact that both males were distracted and so didn't notice the Kiande Amedha that was standing on the ceiling right behind the one in front of her.

Now she had some options, 1º she could let the Serpent kill the one in front of her and use the shock of the surprise attack to run, 2º she could use the grip that the Yautja behind her had on her and kick the one in front of her out of the way before killing the thing, or 3º she could yell out and give the one in front of he a heads up. Decision, decision, decisions. Which one should she chose?

When she saw the Kiande Amedha preparing to strike she made her decision. She gave a small jumped and flung her legs forwards hitting the one in front of her hard in the stomach, making him fall to the ground and thus not getting killed by the Serpent, the one behind her loosened his grip enough for her to shrug it off and charge forward whilst withdrawing one of her daggers.

She used the one that she had kicked as a spring board of sorts, as he had sat up looking for all the world as if he was pissed, causing her to sail through the air right at the Xenomorph, it froze when it saw her flying towards it and tried to dodge too late as she had already hit him dead on and both went tumbling through the air before landing on the ground.

Lex made sure that it was the Xenomorph that took the full brunt of the impact whilst also making sure that it hit the ground first. After she had regained her wits she straddled the thing and took a firmer hold of the dagger and severed the spinal column of the Kiande Amedha.

Scar had been forcefully shaken from his thought by being kicked in the stomach and due to his inattentiveness he couldn't stop the fact that he fell to the floor, as he sat up he noticed that the female Ooman had gotten out of Ranges hold and was running right at him whilst she was withdrawing a dagger from somewhere.

His original thought was that she was going to kill him but that thought was destroyed the moment his form was used as a spring board, he turned and saw that a Kiande Amedha had just been about to strike at his unprotected back and the female Ooman had seen this and acted.

His eyes trailed her form as she flew through the air for a moment before colliding with the black serpent, causing them both to fall to the ground, the female made sure that the Xenomorph hit the ground first thus absorbing the brunt of the impact, he was sure he heard a few of the Xenomorph's bones break. Then the female raised her dagger and sliced through its spinal column, making sure that it wouldn't rise to bother anyone ever again.

Range was just standing there; he had noticed the Xenomorph moments after the female Ooman had gotten out of his shock loosened grip, he witnessed the surgical efficiency that she had displayed when she had attacked the black serpent, letting on to the fact that she had been fighting for survival long before he and Scar had even signed up for this Chiva on Earth.

In fact he was sure she had fought for survival since a very young age, as she displayed the years of experience that one only gets after having been on a great many hunts, she knew of the best way to get rid of an opponent if she didn't feel like holding back, he now understood that whilst Taro had fought with all he had against this Ooman, said Ooman had been holding back trying to gauge the minimum skill level that the three hunters had.

Lex rose up from where she had been straddling the dead Kiande Amedha that she had killed and then cleaned her blade before re-sheathing it.


	14. Chapter XIII

**Chapter XIII**

_Lex rose up from where she had been straddling the dead Kiande Amedha that she had killed and then cleaned her blade before re-sheathing it. _

Lex turned to face the two Yautja's that were staring at her, she arched and eyebrow at the feelings that she felt coming from them. She shook her head and sighed, before she realised that this was perfect timing, she wasn't caught by one or the other, they were too far away to even grab her if she attempted to escape.

Lex smirked as she looked at the two Yautja. "You can thank me later." She said before she turned around and ran down the corridor behind her and took a left turn then a right, she had heard them try and pursue her but she had a head start and she was sure that they would have a hard time following her.

Range and Scar stared after the female for a moment before they started to follow her; she was surprisingly quick for such a small thing.

#I think that we underestimated her Scar.# Range said as they ran.

Scar grunted his agreement to focused on trying to catch up to the female that had run at the first opportunity, he didn't know how capable she was in defending herself but he didn't want to find out by finding her dead. Range on the other hand was thinking that he rather be on this female good side rather than her bad, as he was sure she could get creative with her revenge.

They eventually had to stop because they were getting nowhere in locating the female Ooman, instead they paused and took stock of the situation. One of them was blooded so he had no problem with returning to the ship, the other wasn't and he had to be blooded in order to return.

#Let's find a Kiande Amedha so that you can become Blooded, then we can try and locate the female Ooman.# Scar said after a minute, Range nodded in agreement. Both then proceeded to walk down the corridor, in search of one of the Serpents.

Lex watched from a shadow as they gave up and agreed to something, she checked the future to see what that agreement consisted of and saw that the unmarked wanted to become marked. _Hmm... I can help with that._ Lex thought, before she turned and ran down a corridor.

As she ran she formulated a plan, she knew exactly what she had to do to get the Kiande Amedha's attention. It was a risky plan but it would work.

A reconfiguration of the pyramid later and she had a small group of Serpents following her; she went slow enough for them to keep pursuing her but fast enough not to get caught. She looked in to the future to get the location of the two Yautja that she was doing this for; they now owed her a favour each.

Six minutes later she found them they were in a corridor examining a bit of Serpent slime, she skidded to a halt next to them. She then turned to the unmarked one. "You owe me for luring them here." She said as she gestured down the corridor, where the first Kiande Amedha had appeared.

Range and Scar where startled by the appearance of the female Ooman rounding the corner at a run. Scar was surprised at what the female had said, even as he dutifully translated so his friend would know what she was saying.

Range was about to ask why exactly he owed her and what had she lured to them, when he spotted what she was talking about. He grinned, he was about to become blooded. #Tell her that I like her and also tell her that she has my thanks.# Range said as he prepared himself for a fight.

Scar made a bit of audio that said what Range wanted to say out of the different voices that he had recorded over time. Then he played the audio to the female, she looked surprised at first but then she frowned.

Lex was surprised when she heard what the voices said but then frowned, the dead shouldn't be mocked by the living nor should recordings of their voices be used by others to thank another. Lex shook her head she knew that she couldn't expect Scar to speak her language even if he did understand it. Both turned and watched as the Unblooded Yautja fought the Kiande Amedha.

Range was extremely happy because he was about to be blooded, he and Scar had found an Ooman that could be accepted into the Clan and he was enjoying fighting the Kiande Amedha that the Ooman had lured their way. So that meant that he was one lucky and happy Yautja, and he liked the female Ooman to boot.

Lex waited until Range had killed one of the Serpents, before she jumped in, Scar tried to stop her but her only response was to flip him off. He wouldn't be able to stop her even if he tried.

Scar growled when the female Ooman jumped into the fight. Didn't she understand that this was Ranges Blooding fight? It was a while later when he had also jumped into the fight that he realised that the female had only jumped into the fight once Range had killed a Kiande Amedha.

Lex smirked when she felt the disgruntled emotions and realization that practically flowed off of the smaller Yautja; he obviously hadn't paid close attention to the fight. She dodged the tail strike that one of the Kiande Amedha tried, she lunged forward and slashed at it in repayment, opening a deep wound on its hide making it scream out its rage.

Range and Scar's heads snapped in the Ooman's direction to see what she had done to make it the Serpent scream, they saw the deep gash, an angry Kiande Amedha, a dagger dripping acidic blood and a smirking Ooman. In the end it wasn't difficult to guess what had happened. They exchanged looks asking each other if she would ever stop holding back, then they went back to their own fights.

Lex ignored her companions in favour of dispatching the pissed off Serpent, after that she took quick stock off everything, the group of Kiande Amedha that she had lured her were whittled down to two members which were the ones being fought by the two Yautja. She also took in the fact that they were winning, so that meant that she wasn't needed.

And in light of that she turned and ran down the corridor, not wanting to take the chance at being caught again, and besides she needed to find Sebastian even if she had to kill him because he had been impregnated, she wasn't about to let him die without first giving him a chance to live.

Once they had killed the last two Kiande Amedha they looked around to see if they could spot the female Ooman, but she was nowhere to be found.

#She's left again.# Range said still looking around to see if she was hiding somewhere, before giving up and walking over to one of his kills to mark himself.

#State the obvious, why don't you.# Scar muttered for some reason not liking the fact that the female Ooman wasn't somewhere that he could see, or the fact that he had no idea where she was.

After Range had marked himself he went about getting trophies from his kills, like Scar was now doing. #Should we get her trophies or leave them for her to deal with if she comes back this way?# Range asked as he looked at the Ooman kills.

Scar looked at the dead Serpents for a minute. #The code says that everyone must take a trophy from their kill, but she doesn't bear the mark of the Clan yet, so the Code doesn't apply to her yet.# he said.

#Well that's easily fixed, we just need to take her by surprise.# Range said.

#The mark must be taken willingly Range, we cannot mark her forcefully.# Scar said as he glared at his friend. #If we try to mark her without consent we will become dishonoured, as it's her honour that we are slighting.# he continued.

Range looked down after he had nodded, now that he went over the Code in his head he knew that what he had suggested wasn't the right course of action, no one was allowed to forcefully mark another much less if it was a female that was being marked.

Lex had been exploring the labyrinth, keeping an eye out for anything that wanted to kill her or even capture her, she knew that she would have to accept the mark but she was going to make them chase her down and explain what it meant, before she allowed them to get close to her with a finger from a Serpent, that was also dripping it's acidic blood.

She travelled through the corridors with little trouble always finding a room to hide in when the pyramid reconfigured itself, in one such instance she had to hide in a small alcove that was close to the ceiling in order to make sure that the two Predators didn't find her.

Once the Predators had left the room she jumped to the other alcove that had turned into a passageway, she used the crawl space to get to another room, it took her a full ten minutes to reach a room that wouldn't reconfigure but she didn't care as she was starting to feel a bit claustrophobic.

Lex sat propped against a wall for a minute letting the claustrophobia fade before she took out an energy bar and some water she sat and ate for a while, always keeping an eye on the map that was changing along with the pyramid, she glanced around the room making sure that the crawl spaces were too small for a Serpent or Yautja to move through.

She sighed and closed her eyes, hoping that she could get at least five minutes of rest before she had to keep moving, she made the air around her harden until it formed a sort of shield that wouldn't let anything through, after that she fell into a light sleep.

When she awoke she checked the map and saw that the pyramid was making small changes, before the door on the other side of the room opened to reveal a dark corridor, she moved to the entrance silently, she looked left then right, before she checked her map of the pyramid to decide which way to go, she saw that right was a good decision as it lead to another room that she could stay in whilst the pyramid reconfigured, whilst left was a risky one it didn't lead to a room just more corridors.

_I never was one for the safe route._ Lex thought to herself derisively as she turned and went left moving silently and quickly. She kept glancing around her, whilst also letting her empathy feel around picking up the threats that her eyes could not. She heard heavy footsteps up ahead, making her melt into the shadows; she watched as both Yautja paused not too far away from her, they had stopped to check their own map.

Lex hoped that she didn't appear on said map, as that would end the fun of making them chase her all over the place. She shifted her weight to her other foot as silently as she could, whilst also glancing around, her instincts didn't like the fact that she wasn't moving but there was nothing that she could do about that.

She looked at the Yautja that were discussing something, she didn't know what and she didn't really care as long as it didn't involve her getting marked or leading another group of Serpents their way. That wasn't happening again, not by a long shot.


	15. Chapter XIV

**Chapter XIV**

_She looked at the Yautja that were discussing something, she didn't know what and she didn't really care as long as it didn't involve her getting marked or leading another group of Serpents their way. That wasn't happening again, not by a long shot._

Scar and Range were frustrated. There was no other way to put it, well frustrated and embarrassed. They couldn't find the Ooman that had helped them and killed one of their own, but she was defending her fellows so she was fully within her rights to do what she had done to Taro.

#We are so not going to live this down.# Range said, as he kept an eye on the corridor in front of them and behind them. Scar just grunted in answer he wasn't happy about that fact either, he knew that at the moment it was their families that were watching and that made him sure that once this was over then he was going to be lectured by his father.

Scar sighed, as he looked back the way that they had come and then he looked the way that they were heading, he froze as his eyes widened. #Range.# he called softly through the com system. #Remember that time when we were training and the Master attacked us from above?# he asked.

Range's head snapped around to look at his mei'hswei. #You have got to be kidding me.# Range said with wide eyes. #She's been using the crawl spaces all this time to hide when we have gotten close to her?# he asked bewildered.

Scar turned to his chiva mei'hswei and nodded.

**UUUU**

The families of the three Hunters just watched as the two Yautja that were left finally come to the conclusion that they had come to a couple of hours after the female Ooman had started to successfully avoid them.

#They're just now realising that the Ooman has been using the crawl spaces! Honestly they should have figured this out hours ago!# Scars mother, Nrak'yrtara, exclaimed.

#Calm down, my love. I'm sure that they were intent on marking themselves to put all of their efforts in tracking down the Ooman female.# Scars father, Na'tauk tried to calm his mate, even as he watched the scene unfolding in the pyramid.

**UUUU**

Lex watched the two Predator's converse, waiting impatiently for them to leave the corridor but they seemed content just standing there as if they had nothing better to do.

_What are they waiting for?_ Lex thought as she kept an eye on the Predator's and her surroundings. She shook her head before she glanced behind her and saw that the crawl space continued, Lex just stared into the darkness for a moment in surprise before she shook herself out of it and quietly made her way into the darkness, leaving the two Yautja behind to finish their conversation.

It took her five minutes to reach another room, after she had left the crawl space the pyramid started to rearrange itself and the crawl space that she had used closed making her sigh in relief at the fact that she had left it at the right time or she most likely would have been squashed by the weight of the stone.

Lex sighed knowing that she would soon have to join the two Yautja if she wanted this Chiva to finish and she didn't like that, but then again Lady Fate always seemed to find ways to make her do things that she didn't want to do.

Minutes later a stone slab rose up and granted her a way out of the room that she had been trapped in, she stood up from where she had sat down and made her way down the corridor on the other side, she moved as silently as possible keeping an eye out for a Kiande Amedha.

She glanced around cautiously, she wasn't actively trying to find the Yautja but if she did, she wouldn't run from them and make them try and track her as she was tired of running, all she wanted to do now was get to the surface and relax.

She made her way down the long corridor always making sure that nothing crept up on her; it took her fifteen minutes to be found by a small group of Kiande Amedha, there were four of them but she just sighed before she took out a random weapon from its sheath; she saw that she had drawn a dagger making her growl in annoyance.

But she didn't have time to mentally complain about the weapon as the Serpents lunged at her making her dodge to the side, as she dodged she lashed out and delivered a killing blow to the Serpent. Lex looked at them then at the weapon in her hand before she turned and ran, as she ran she sheathed the dagger and grabbed the cylinder from her belt she skidded to a stop and spun around to face her enemy.

Scar and Range had been walking for a while now with nothing interesting happening, it was like the Kiande Amedha were avoiding them; but that was until they heard the dying screech of a serpent, they glanced at each other before they nodded and took off running in the direction it had come from.

When they arrived they saw three Kiande Amedha surrounding the Ooman female that they had been trying to track.

#She seems really adept at attracting Kiande Amedha.# Range commented as he watched the Ooman female fight the Serpents.

Scar hummed in response taking in the female's fighting style. #You're right, they do seem attracted to her or the Queen wants something from her.#

Range nodded in agreement to his friend's assessment as he watched the female Ooman fought the Kiande Amedha.

Lex glanced at the Yautja and saw that they wouldn't interfere, which made her happy. She turned her eyes back and watched the black Serpents in front of her and judged what they would do.

**UUUU**

The family members watched as the female Ooman glanced around her, she had her back to the wall and had little chance of survival without Scar's and Range's assistance, they were then surprised when the Ooman threw herself to the left when one of the Kiande Amedha rushed at her.

**UUUU**

Lex stabbed the one that she had thrown herself at, taking out one threat then she spun around and threw herself on top of another, withdrawing an energy pistol from its holster and fired twice at a Serpent, killing it with little trouble.

_Three down one to go. _Lex thought as she stared down the last Serpent.

The black menace hissed, making her growl lowly back at it, minutes later it lunged at her; Lex moved to the side letting it pass her before she stuck out her hand and grabbed one of the spikes that were protruding from its shoulder and hoisted herself up and onto its back.

_I have way to much fun ridding Serpents._ Lex thought as the Xenomorph bucked, she was going to enjoy this ride.

Scar and Range watched as the female Ooman took down two Kiande Amedha and hoisted herself up onto the third.

#She really likes ridding Kiande Amedha.# Range commented, as the female guided the Serpent along the corridor.

Scar chuckled lowly. #That's an understatement, I think she enjoys it.# he said as he subtly shifted a bit.

#Hm… I think your right Scar, she looks like she really is enjoying riding that Kiande Amedha.# Range said as they watched her.

Lex moved her body in various ways to be able stay on the Serpent; she threw her left hand in the air taunting it with the fact that she only needed one had to hold on, she smiled when it tried harder to dislodge her, and then she pouted at the thought of killing the black menace.

Yes, she knew that they weren't allowed to reach the surface, but that didn't mean that she had to like killing the only animal that could give her an adrenaline rush other than the bull. Lex sighed before she grabbed her cylindrical weapon and choose the setting that she thought would be appropriate, she then stabbed the Serpent quickly before she changed her mind about keeping it.

It died three seconds later, she sighed as she backed away from the carcass, staring at it with a pout and crossed arms.

"And I wanted to keep that one." She muttered petulantly. "Oh well I guess we can't have everything." She continued, before freezing as she sensed that she was being watched, a moment later she spun around and found that the two Yautja had caught up with her.

**UUUU**

The family of the Young Bloods watched the interactions between the Chiva participants and the female Ooman

#I never thought that I would see an Ooman take on three Kiande Amedha and live to tell the tale.# Ranges mother, Ryend, said as she watched her son and his friend interacted with the female.

#Nor did I.# Scar's mother, Nrak'yrtara, said as she watched what was going on in the pyramid.

Scar's father, Na'tauk, glanced at Rilver, Range's father, in surprise; but both saw that Scar more than liked the female Ooman, and they deduced that Scar wanted the female as his mate, causing both male Yautja to sigh, one in resignation and the other in frustration, it was just lucky that Range was looking at the Ooman in a sibling way or they were certain that there would be one Paya of a fight between the long time friends and brothers in all but blood.

Not only that but the rest of the ship had already started to watch the start of the chiva, so there was no way that Scar would have an easy time getting the female all to himself, like the young Yautja wanted to, as every unmated male, by the end of watching the Chiva, would want the chance to court the dark Ooman. Heck if he was younger and unmated he would want the chance.

#This is going to be a very interesting year.# Rilver said as he watched the Chiva participants and the female.

**UUUU**

On another Yautja Clanship a tall male Yautja was contemplating the dark beauty that was his Ooman mate; he also thought over the female child that she had gifted him with. He sighed as he looked out at the expanse of stars.

He then turned and looked at the data pad that was on his desk, reading what little information that his clan had been able to gather from Milder'ni about his daughter. It seems that she was a wilderness expert that spent more time away from others of her mother's kind than with them, not only that but her mother had mated with another. That had been an unpleasant surprise.

Adrinle know that there was a chiva going on at the moment on Milder'ni, the clan that was there for the chiva was the Trienver Clan, a clan that specialised in frontal assault, as in if the Yautja were to go to war as a race then the Trienver Clan would be on the front lines along with four others, that just so happen to be their allies.

He just hoped that his daughter hadn't gotten involved in the Chiva, but if she had then their better not be a male interested in her as a mate or else they would have to fight him to prove that they really did want her, not only that but he wanted to spend some time with his daughter and get to know her.

At that moment another Yautja walked through the door and knelt in front of him, waiting patiently for him to acknowledge him.

#Yes Hunter Derli?# Adrinle asked as he gesture for the Yautja to rise and stand in front of his desk.

#Sir we have found more information that pertains to your daughter.# Derli replied nervously after he had stood up.

#And what information would that be?# he asked narrowing his eyes at the Yautja that stood before him.

Derli gulped and subtly backed away from the elder Yautja until he stood in front of the door, that to his relief wasn't that far from his superior's desk. He was silent for a moment more before he decided that the Ooman saying 'Just say the information, like you're ripping of a band-aid' was the way to go.

#We just found out that your daughter has unknowingly been entered in the Trienver Clans Chiva, and she is doing extremely well.# Derli reported before he fled the room as fast as he could. Leaving Adrinle sitting there staring at where he had stood minutes ago, before he roared out in rage and sent a message to the bridge telling them to speed the ship up.

If she ended up injured because of that Clan, then they hope that she didn't end up dead because of the injuries, because if she did then he would wage a war with his whole clan and allies as back up.


	16. Chapter XV

**Chapter XV**

_If she ended up injured because of that Clan, then they hope that she didn't end up dead because of the injuries, because if she did then he would wage a war with his whole clan and allies as back up._

Lex observed the two Yautja that stood before her for a moment before sighing, even if she wasn't going to run from them it didn't mean that she liked the fact that she would have to stay with them to make this situation end.

"Well…" She trailed off as she looked at them. "This wasn't how I wanted this little trip to end." She muttered after a while.

Range just observed the female Ooman, he really should get a universal translator integrated into his equipment. #Scar, why isn't she disappearing off to Paya knows where?# he asked his friend.

#I have no idea.# Scar replied as he observed the dark skinned female. Even if he was a bit oblivious he knew that he would have one Cetanu of a challenge to make this female his mate. #Maybe she decided that she wanted this Chiva to end?#

#Probably.# Range hummed before he took a slow step towards the female Ooman. #At least she isn't running anymore.# Range said when the Ooman hadn't moved away from him when he had taken the step.

#That's a relief.# Scar said as he leaned against the wall.

Lex watched the two males in front of her, she could tell that the one that had just leaned against the wall was attracted to her, yet the one that had stepped towards her had no feeling to her except in a sibling way, she knew that now that she wasn't running the feelings would get stronger, from both of them.

She sighed before she froze and looked into the future, she frowned at what she saw. It seemed that they would have to finish this little hunt soon or there would be a war between two clans, the one that the two in front of her were apart of and another one that had ties to her mother. Her father perhaps?

Then if it was her father then why hadn't he come earlier to take her with him? Why now? When she had her life ordered, well now it looked like all of her hard work was about to be shot to hell especially since there were several Yautja that were interested in her.

"We need to end this soon or the consequences will be dire." Lex said looking at the one that could translate.

Scar watched as the female froze and frowned, her eyes were cloudy like she was observing something in the distant future. When her eyes cleared and she spoke he just stared at her, if she could indeed see the future then she would be a very good addition to the clan, he didn't want her for her abilities, he wanted her for her fighting prowess and her beauty. Not only that but her voice had to be made by Paya himself!

Range glanced at his friend and saw the way that he was looking at the Ooman and groaned; couldn't he choose someone that wasn't going to have every unmated male in the clan after her? It seemed that his friend always choose the hard path, especially when it came to mating.

**UUUU**

Adrinle watched the footage that they had gotten access to from the other clan of the Chiva that was currently in progress. His clan was currently gathered in the mess hall watching the Chiva from the beginning.

He glanced around and could tell that the others were surprised at the skill that his half Ooman daughter displayed. He looked around and saw that there were some male's that were interested in her; he had a feeling that there were some in the other clan that were also interested in his daughter.

He snorted, as if he would let any male unworthy of his daughter near her. That would only happen when he was sentenced to be with Cetanu. He turned back to the screen and watched as his daughter tried her best at protecting her comrades whilst holding back her capabilities.

**UUUU**

Lex growled as she ran next to the Yautja, there was no way that her Father would not ground her when he saw this, as in Yautja terms she was still underage, even if she could beat most of the Yautja Elders with one hand tied behind her back.

_Next time I'm telling them to fuck off._ She thought venomously. A moment later her eyes glazed over as a vision came to her, what she saw made her eyes widen and she almost skidded to a stop, it was only her training that kept her running.

"Why is it that every time something looks simple it turns around and becomes a whole lot more complicated?" Lex asked rhetorically out loud.

Range glanced at Scar asking for the translation, then he looked at the Ooman female with a raid eye ridge.

#She seems to be a bit pessimistic.# Range commented.

#She probably has a right to be.#Scar retorted and kept on running.

Around an hour later they arrived at the chamber that housed the eggs that the Queen had produced, as Lex looked around she saw that the only clear paths was the one that went around the edge of the room, she started to carefully circle the room looking at both the eggs and at the wall.

She froze when she saw Sebastien stuck to the wall, she stared at him wide eyed for a moment; here was one of the few worthy males trapped, whose destiny was to die in this Trial.

At that moment she made a rash decision, all the while knowing that it was hopeless. He was a friend and a worthy mate, as her instincts told her anyway. She tried her hardest to release him from his prison and from his fate, but she was pushed away by one of the Yautja.

She looked at him for a moment before she looked back at the only male that her instincts had deemed worthy, she was startled out of her thoughts by the sound of a plasma caster powering up, she turned rapidly and saw that it was the one that had pushed her out of the way.

Range watched as Scar pushed the female Ooman away from her doomed kin, a moment later Scar took aim with his Sivk'va-tai, but the female Ooman stopped him. She looked like what she was about to do would pain her.

"Sebastien you are the only male that has proven to be worthy of my attention, if you hadn't been an unwilling incubator well that we will never know." She said before she took a deep breath and raised the gun that she had found lying on the floor, a moment later she fired.

She stayed in the firing position for a moment longer staring at Sebastien's corpse, he had given her a look of understanding, that look had been the only thing that had allowed her to pull the trigger but it wasn't enough to make her walk away immediately.

Scar watched as the female Ooman shot her comrade, before she looked as if nothing fazed her and now this just showed others that she did have emotions but they were buried beneath a cold exterior. Range looked between Scar and the female Ooman knowing that if they mated they would have to have a talk about this moment and the feelings that she used to have for the male of her kind that she had just killed to protect the other members of her race.

Lex, when she came back to herself, dropped the gun, turned and walked away. She couldn't deal with her emotions yet, she would deal with them when she was alone with no one around; at that moment she used every trick that she had learned about controlling her emotion during the many times that she had been imprisoned in the Cyrel Institute.

After a moment of gathering her emotions, she turned around and truly took in the room, it was a circular room that used to be filled with stone slabs that obviously used to be used for ritual sacrifices and it was filled nearly to the brim with eggs.

"They are born via eggs?" Lex asked as she looked at the room with an eyebrow raised. "No wonder they are so short tempered, the first thing they see isn't their mother it's a circular stone room and their brother's or sister's."

Range and Scar just stared at the female Ooman as she spoke, Scar translating what she had said.

#You know she could be right, that would make me short tempered.# Range commented.

Scar hummed in agreement as he looked at the female Ooman, he really wished that he knew her name it would be a lot easier that way, but he was sure that whatever her name was it would fit her.

#And I've lost him.# Range grumbled as he looked at his brother in all but blood. #Let's hope that no one else is interested in her, because if there is there will be one Paya of a bloodbath.# Range continued in a near whisper, unwilling for his kin to hear him.

Scar walked up to the female and managed to get her attention, he pointed at his wrist computer then at the eggs and made a motion with his hands signalling an explosion. Lex just glanced at what the Yautja had pointed at and nodded in understanding.

She moved to stand beside the taller Yautja and waited for the other to throw the bomb, she readied herself for the sprint of a life time. Moments later the shorter Yautja threw the bomb making all off them run, she followed her instincts not willing to allow the two extra-terrestrials the chance to get them hopelessly lost, as she ran she gave her tiny robots the order to return to her once she was out of the pyramid.

Lex lead the run for freedom, taking turns at full speed at times she skidded around the corner not wanting to slow down, once she saw the entrance to the pyramid she speed up, a second later the three of them were out of the pyramid; they then ran to the tunnel where the sled was.

Once Lex had reached the sled she sighed in relief before she bent down to see the control panel better, but when she touched the panel she felt that it was covered in slim which the feeling made her cringe.

"Great, just great." Lex muttered as she turned around and withdrew the cylindrical weapon that she had made, after she reviewed the future, there was this one Kiande Amedha that needed to be destroyed before it caused to much trouble.

Scar and Range turned and saw the amount of Kiande Amedha that were spread out in front of the pyramid, the numbers made them stare in disbelief, both had never thought that they would have to face such numbers on their blooding Chiva.

#This isn't going to end well.# Range said as he prepared himself for the fight. Scar just nodded his head, he agreed with his friend.

Both were surprised when the female Ooman that had helped them growled in a challenging manner at the Kiande Amedha as she crouched, ready to lunge at them in a moment's notice.

Lex ignored the two surprised Yautja as she growled and crouched, they had no idea that she was only challenging one of the Kiande Amedha, but she wasn't going to correct them after all, one was infatuated with her and the other was hopefully going to end up being her brother in all but blood.

_Well,_ Lex thought. _That is if my dad let's me out of his sight after he sees the move I'll pull fighting the Queen._


	17. Chapter XVI

**Chapter XVI**

_Well, __**Lex thought.**__ That is if my dad let's me out of his sight after he sees the move I'll pull fighting the Queen._

Lex took a look into the future, scanning it for anything out of the ordinary like, the Cyrel Institute showing up to take her back to the labs, well that depended on if they had managed to fix all of the damage that her last stay with them had caused.

She grinned darkly in satisfaction, when she saw that nothing was going to happen. She lunged forward and clashed with the first Serpent in front of her stabbing it straight through its acid proof scull.

She ducked under the tail that one of the other Serpents had sent her way and got in close to another, she unsheathed her dagger and stabbed it before jumping back and away from the acid that spurted from the wound, after she had ripped her dagger out of its body.

Lex turned rapidly and got in front of another goading one of the serpents to try and use its tail against her. Both went for the bait and swung their tails straight at her aiming for a killing blow, but in reality they hit each other as she ducked at the last second, Lex moved as fast as the tight space created by a wall of serpents allowed.

She glanced over at the one that she wanted to put down, if she didn't then he would create all sorts of trouble on Earth and she couldn't allow that especially when her father would practically kidnap her to have her close to him.

She sighed at that thought, her father was going to be overprotective with her, he wouldn't allow a male to get close enough for her to see if they were an alright mate. She growled lowly in frustration, sometimes she hated her instincts, she shouldn't be thinking about mating until long into the future but her cycle was coming and it was hard to live through it single, but she knew if she had a mate then it would be easier, that thought didn't comfort her at all.

_Alright, stop thinking about that and concentrate on the fight!_ Lex growled mentally. _Especially when you have a target to eliminate._

Scar and Range watched the female Ooman take on the Serpents expertly, ducking and dogging when necessary. They glanced at each other for a moment communicating silently an agreement to never piss this female Ooman off under any circumstances; they would even go against the Elder's.

Scar had trouble blocking certain thoughts from his mind but he somehow succeeded. He crouched and launched himself at the Kiande Amedha to help the female Ooman take them down and earn a few kills; well that and he hoped to impress her.

Range sighed and resigned himself to guarding the flat piece of metal that seemed to be their way out of this icy cavern. He knew that Scar was focusing his attention on hopefully impressing the female Ooman, earning a few kills and help the female in whatever endeavor that she had set herself.

Lex smirked when she saw that the Yautja had taken up the roles that would assure the best possible future for not only her and Earth but their Clans and fathers. She couldn't believe that they had done this without any prompting from her, normally she had to manipulate something in some way to get the desired outcome.

She dragged herself from her thoughts and focused back onto the small battle that was currently in progress. She ducked under the tail strike that one of the Serpents sent her way allowing her the time to shoot forward and impale it with her weapons cylinder, she really needed to name it at some point, she backed away as quickly as she had struck, even if her clothes were resistant to their acidic blood she didn't want to risk it.

She glanced into the future to see what kills she had to make to kill the one that would cause problems on Earth, once she knew and acknowledged what she needed to do she moved forward and started to attack certain Serpents, whose demise was necessary for Earth's survival.

Scar kept an eye on the female Ooman and saw that she was fighting distractedly, not really paying attention to her actions, obviously she was consulting whatever power she had to make a concrete decision, when her attention snapped back to the battle he saw that the decision had been made as she started to be selective with those that she attacked.

The Ooman was making her way slowly but subtly closer to one Kiande Amedha in particular, making sure that the abnormally intelligent hard meat wouldn't notice her until it was to late and twenty minutes later he was proven right.

Range watched in shocked surprise as the female Ooman launched herself viciously towards one particular Kiande Amedha that had deemed the Yautja to be more dangerous that her, which evidently was the last mistake that it would make in its life, as the Ooman sailed through the air and hit it at just the right angle to pierce it right through its scull and brain, the weapon that she had used protruded out of the opposite side to the one that she had hit.

There was no way that the Kiande Amedha was alive after a hit like that especially since a moment after pricing it the Ooman detracted the blade and moved onto attacking the last Kiande Amedha that were still alive.

Lex paused for a moment as she saw that the bomb had about ten minutes left before detonation, the vision caused her to end the Serpent that she had been fighting, turn and make her way as fast as she could to the sleigh, once beside it she gestured to the Yautja to grab onto the sleighs handles as she imputed the code that would activate the mechanism to draw it back to the surface.

Scar and Range grabbed the indicated handle as the Ooman inputted the code, after the code was inputted she grabbed the bar and pressed the green button, which started the mechanism and pulled the sleighed up the slope that lead to the surface. As the sleigh made it way rapidly to the surface, Lex scanned the future to see if there was anything that she needed to be forewarned about.

_Dead bodies hanging around the Whaling Station, two Yautja ships floating clocked in the air, the Queen smashing through the ice with intent to kill us a second after landing, me bei... Wait. WHAT!_ Lex thought with wide eyes. _ That can't be right! The explosion was big enough to immobilize her, no matter her size or age!_

Her eyes widened when she felt the sleigh catapult into the air, she quickly moved so that she was crouching and waited for the right moment to push off of it, she wanted a pleasant landing not one that would knock the breath out of her and a chance of taking her out of the fight.

A second after moving she jumped and flew through the air aiming for a pipe that lead from one building to the next, her aim was true and she used it to swing herself around once before she let it go and landed on her feet just as the sleigh crash into a building.

"Idiots." Lex said as she shook her head and made her way over to see if she would have to fight the Queen alone. She looked them over and saw that they were a groaning mess on the floor; obviously Yautja weren't made to withstand crashing into a wall and then the floor directly afterwards.

Scar put his hand to his head as he groaned, he hadn't ever had to experience crashing through a wall and then onto the floor mere seconds after so it took him a minute to gather his wits enough to look at Range and see if he was okay.

#At least we know why the Ooman jumped off of the sleigh.# Range groaned as he pushed himself up from the floor and shook his head.

**UUUU**

The two Yautja Clan sips that were hovering above earth all watched wide eyed as the hunters crashed into a wall then the floor mere seconds after the first impact and winced when they saw the state that the two Young Bloods were in, they had been surprised when the female Ooman had launched herself off of the sleigh but understood why moments later.

#Well it seems that the Ooman has more intelligence then the Hunters that we sent down to the Pyramid.# One of the Yautja said.

#Yes, it seems that she is worthy to become a part of our society.# another said.

#There's no question on whether or not she can be accepted, as she will be accepted. My clan is in complete agreement on taking the female in.# Adrinle said from the communication screen.

#Why?# Na'tauk asked curiously.

#The female Ooman is only half-Ooman, not only that but she is my daughter.# Adrinle replied.

#Well it seems that my son is interested in having your daughter for a mate.# Na'tauk commented.

#So it would seem.# Adrinle said. #You better make your son aware to the fact that it will be difficult to gain my blessing to mate with Alexandria.#

Na'tauk nodded his head as he made a mental note to have a talk with his son.

**UUUU**

Lex frowned in thought as she turned and made her way to the crater where the pyramid had sat.

"This is going to be a huge test of skill." She said to herself, then turned and took in the whaling station that the Weyland expedition had been using as a base, coming up with different plans, then mentally going over them to see if they were viable or not.

Lex sighed as she checked the future for the umpteenth time noticing that the only thing that could change was the outcome of the battle, or last skirmish, with the Queen. The deciding factor was currently unknown, and that didn't sit well with her.

She usually had all of the factors when she fought as she searched tirelessly to discover all the factors that would help decide the outcome of the fight, it was critical that they won or all of Earth was, to put it simply, fucked or, if you would like a politer term, screwed to Hell and back again.

Dark eyes looked back at the crater taking in the way the ice and snow had fallen, comparing it to what she had seen, it was radically different to the vision that lead to the death of not only the Hunters but her as well, it was just as well that that had happened as it meant that there was less of a chance that she would die and more chance of her living.

She saw the ice and snow that covered the Queen vibrate subtly, showing that the Queen was trying her hardest to get out of the icy prison that the bomb had made. At that moment the Yautja appeared at her side and looked in the direction that she was looking in.

Lex then began baking up, to the distance that her vision showed had the highest possibility for all of them to come out of this alive and relatively unharmed, the two Hunter's followed her lead, obviously they had caught onto the fact that she had a gift of some type that gave her an idea of the future.

A moment later the Queen burst through the ice and snow that had been her prison moments before screaming out her rage at the fact that her children were all dead, and the fact that their murderers where in front of her preparing to deliver to her the same fate as that of her children didn't help her rage.


	18. Chapter XVII

**Chapter XVII**

_A moment later the Queen burst through the ice and snow that had been her prison moments before screaming out her rage at the fact that her children were all dead, and the fact that their murderers where in front of her preparing to deliver to her the same fate as that of her children, didn't help her rage._

Lex stared at the Queen with a determined look in her eyes, her body language screamed a challenge from one Queen of a race to another. The challenge was accepted by the Serpent Queen when she screamed for the second time that evening.

She crouched down and prepared herself to fight of the Kiande Amedha that was threatening Earth and her human family; she looked into the future and saw what she was about to do would cause her birth father to have the Yautja version of a heart attack.

Lex smirked before she launched herself forwards running towards the towering black serpentine form, the Queen screamed and flung her tail at the one that had helped in the destruction of her children, Lex avoided the tail by summersaulting over it.

She growled when she saw that the Yautja where just standing there staring at her, as if they had nothing better to do.

"You know you could help me you bastards!" Lex growled at them as she avoided the Queens tail and claws.

The two Yautja glanced at each other for a second before one grabbed his throwing star and the other his spear, they both knew that if they didn't help her they wouldn't ever live it down, the couple of minutes that they had just stood there could be explained away as them taking the time to try and come up with a plan and that they had been surprised when the Ooman female had leapt in and attacked.

#Well it seems that you will have a hard time trying to tame her.# Range commented as he prepared himself to throw the star that he had in his hand, his comment made Scar turn his head in his friend's direction.

#What?# Scar asked as he stared at his friend frowning.

#Nothing.# Range backtracked rapidly and quickly threw himself into the fight to avoid, not only an argument with his friend but pissing of the female Ooman, he had read some of the things that the males of this planet had written of their female counterparts, and he knew that they could make the Yautja females look like tamed kittens if it suited them.

Lex gave the bigger Yautja a smile of appreciation, relieved that she finally had some help from the ones that were partially the cause of her getting mixed up in this event. She turned back to the queen and prepared to launch herself at the black Serpent, sighing at the fact that this was either going to kill her, fatally injure, injure her or she would survive it with hardly any injury.

Of course two of those options weren't viable as that would mean she would be taken without her consent.

_Let's see if I can steer this to the path that will lead me to staying on Earth and not go on an inter galactic hunting trip, thought I wouldn't mind if I got the chance to give my Dad the riot act. _Lex thought with a smirk.

**UUUU**

Adrinle tensed as he watched the proceedings of the Chiva unfold in front of his eyes on the screen, he almost had several heart attack due to the antics of his daughter, he noted that his loyal friend and second-in-command was shooting him sympathetic looks.

#Why are you looking at me sympathetically?# Adrinle asked.

#Well your daughter looks like she is going to give you the riot act when she sees you, and it looks like that she won't really care if you're in public or not.# Minderin said, his eyes now focused on the screen as the two Yautja finally joined the fight.

Adrinle looked back at the screen and took in the attitude of his daughter and found that his friend was right.

#I think that I would much rather face a whole nest of Kiande Amedha alone than face her.# Adrinle said as he gulped slightly. His friend just laughed in amused sympathy.

**UUUU**

Lex jumped out of the way of the Queen's tail as she took a quick glance into the future, making sure that every decision she took ended up with her staying on Earth, she nearly broke down crying when she saw that her Father wouldn't give her the luxury of deciding, he would take her with him.

_Great, now I'll have to do something drastic like dying, not that I'm a fan of that plan._ Lex thought as she avoided another of the Serpent Queens attempts to kill her.

Lex back away from the Queen to take in the surroundings, yes Antarctica may be a frozen wasteland but it had its uses, like the fact that it symbolized a completely free land that had no one to rule it. She saw the run down and frozen buildings of the whaling station, many of which she was sure wouldn't hold up to a safety inspection.

"Alright so we have two Yautja, a Kiande Amedha Queen, a frozen whaling station and a hybrid that has been modified by science." Lex muttered as she made sure to keep away from the sight. "Now how does one use all of the components to gain a satisfactory result?"

She looked around spotted The Cauldron, then glanced back at the Queen and spotted the chain that was trailing behind the Serpent; next to get her attention was the two Yautja who were now glaring at her because she wasn't fighting.

"Okay lure the Queen to the Cauldron and secure the chain to said structure, then move to the other side of the Queen most likely have to baseball slide between the Serpents legs and then attack and push her back until she ends up hanging of the cliff." Lex muttered quietly.

She took in the situation then glanced into the future to see if she had time to try and make the Cauldron stronger than it currently was, she did but only if she notified her companions, which meant getting as close to them as she could.

She sighed as she took a deep breath and ran at the Queen, slashed at her a couple of times before she retreated to stand beside the two Yautja.

"Look, I know one of you understands, so translate what I have to say for your companion." Lex instructed softly as she stared at the Queen who was now just standing there, most likely trying to formulate a plan of her own, when the one on her right nodded she knew he was running a program or something to do the translations.

"I have a plan but I need to reinforce a building in order to make the plan work, what I need both of you to do is distract the Queen until I come back. Got it?" Lex asked as she glanced at both of them, both nodded to show that they would do as she asked.

With that Lex smiled at both of them before she launched herself back into the fight with both of them backing her up. When she saw that they kept the Queens attention focused on them and away from her she slipped away from the fight silently.

**UUUU**

The families of the Chiva participants watched as the female Oman slipped away from the fight and made her way to the tall circular structure that was on the edge of the small Ooman settlement.

#What is she doing?# Nrak'yrtara asked as she and the others watched as the female Ooman slip away from the fight.

#I don't know.# Ryend, Ranges mother, said. #Maybe she has a plan and she needs to prepare the place that it will take place in?#

#Possibly.# Scars father mused as he watched the events unfold.

**UUUU**

Adrinle and his Clan watched as his daughter slipped away from the fight, he noticed that the two Newly Blooded Yautja were purposely trying to keep the Queens attention away from Lex.

#They have a plan.# Adrinle stated, gaining nods and sounds of agreement form his Clansmen.

**UUUU**

Lex looked up at the Cauldron and sighed, she didn't like this nor did she like the fact that she had to figure out a way to reinforce the tower in twenty minutes, for that was all the time that she had before the plan that she had become obsolete.

She looked around, all that was the there were whale bones, a couple of spades, a crane and a lot of wires. She stared at the wires for a moment before she grinned, they could be used to anchor the Cauldron to the surface and make sure that the Queen didn't accidently take a swim in waters so cold that there was hardly any life in them.

With that she got to work keeping an eye on the fight between the Queen and the two Yautja, she chuckled and smirked at the language that she heard coming from them, it seemed that they were being really creative in their insults concerning the Queen and various other objects… Wait.

"Is that even possible?" Lex asked out loud as she turned and stared in the direction of the fight, before she shrugged and went back to work. It took her twenty more minutes to finish the final touches that were needed before she was done.

"Right." She muttered. "Now here is where it gets a little bit tricky."

She ran to where the Yautja where to get them to help her position the Queen exactly where she wanted her to be. What she saw when she arrived had her in hysterics, she just couldn't help it, one of the Yautja was standing there just staring at the Queen who had the other wrapped in her tail and near her mouth, who was rubbing her snout getting him a really rough purr/growl from the big Serpent. She thought the one that was staring at the Queen was trying to believe what he was seeing, all of their attention snapped to her when she had started laughing.

"Good distraction, not what I had in mind but if it clearly worked then who am I to complain." She said as she smirked at the one that was being held by the Queen, and she was sure that he was blushing.

The Queen quickly dropped the Yautja that she had been holding and charged at the one, that in the Serpent Queen's mind, was a fellow Queen. Lex just looked at the beast wide eyed and lunged out of the way of the Queen's way.

"Now I have no regrets about what I have planned for you." She muttered as she got up and brushed the snow off her suit, Lex looked at the Yautja and nodded.

#Let's hope that whatever plan that she has doesn't end with us being injured.# Range said as he fingered one of his various knives.

Lex looked at the Queen and saw that she was gearing up for another charge at her, she glanced at the two Yautja for a second before she focused her attention back onto the Queen.

"Follow me!" She yelled to the two predators as she turned around and ran towards The Cauldron.

Lex grinned as she felt the vibrations that were caused by the serpent Queen as she ran, once she was at a certain distance from the big cylindrical structure she bent down and grabbed one of the few spare wires that she had placed strategically around their new battle ground.

Moving quickly, she pulled the wire as she ran towards the Queen, ignoring the fact that her actions could be seen as suicidal if it had been anyone but her, once she was under the Queen she tied the wire around the Queens legs making sure that the Yautja kept her attention. Lex then ran back towards The Cauldron, where the two Yautja were waiting.

"Grab the chain that's connected to the collar around the Queens neck and tie it to the tap of the hollow cylinder." Lex told them as she pointed to the building and skidded to a stop in front of them.

She froze as a vision assaulted her, she saw that Miller, Verheiden and Connors had made it out of the pyramid without a scratch and that they were slowly but steadily making their way towards the Piper Maru on foot, having correctly guessed that the camp was compromised. She let out a sigh of relief, at least humanity wouldn't be deprived of their wisdom and maybe they could warn the ones that explored pyramids for a living about the sadistic tendencies of their ancestors.

Because of the vision, Lex never sensed the incoming tail strike of the Queen, which hit her with such force that the hit sent her flying and left a bone deep gash on her left side and nocked the breath out of her, she lay there staring at the cloudy sky knowing that she couldn't re-join the fight. Lex moved her head as much as she could and stared at the Yautja and the celebrating Xenomorph Queen.

"Move." She pleaded to the two predators as she bleed out at a moderate pace, her healing abilities trying to combat the damage, she wasn't willing to let the alien Queen win, not when so much was at stake.

Scar and Range glanced at each other, before turning, lunging to grab hold of the chain that was connected to the Queens collar and pull it towards the strange building that the female Ooman had pointed to, they pulled with all of the residual strength that they had to reach the goal that the Ooman had given them, all the while the Xenomorph Queen screeched in rage and resisted as much as she could, whilst she tried to go for the one which she understood to be their Queen.

Once the two Yautja made it they wound and tied the chain around the protrusion, then paused not sure what to do as the Queen strained against the bounds that she was now under, still trying to reach the downed dark two-legs. Lex huffed as much as she could, considering that she was being affected by blood-loss.

"_Push the building over the cliff."_ She told them using telepathy, chuckling in amusement when both of the Yautja jumped in surprise, but they soon overcame it and began doing what she had told them to do.

Checking the future to see what was the outcome and smiling at the fact that she had succeeded in obtaining the future that she had wanted for the planet, she sighed as she finally accepted the fact that her remains would not remain on the planet of her birth.

Alexandria Ehiztari Woods smiled in happiness for the first time in her life, taking what she thought would be her last breath as she closed her eyes and surrendered to the soothing darkness that was slowly consuming her consciousness.


End file.
